Strong bonds
by Aurrawings
Summary: A drastic accident leaves a young girl terribly wounded. In the rush to save her life, she is turned into a Cybertronian, unfortunately, she joins the 'Cons. On top of this, Megatron has given an order to kill any and all elite guard members in the galaxy. How will the Autobots cope with this and their new enemy faction? OC/Prowl, graphic torture, fluff, character death, gore
1. Chapter 1

_Pain wracked my broken body as I lay, unseeing, on the pavement. I heard something about a drunk driver and I wanted to scream in agony when I was lifted from the ground; every movement, every jostle shot blinding signals of pain throughout my entire body._

"I don't know Prowl, the damage is extensive, and with an organic? I hardly know anything about their medicine..." Ratchet said.

"Please, you have to try; you're her only hope right now." Prowl pleaded. He felt terrible, if he hadn't tried to pass the drunk driver on the road, the car wouldn't have swerved and collided at full speed with the girl who had been walking along the sidewalk.

_I couldn't open my eyes; my entire body seemed frozen, though my only senses seemed to be hearing and pain. Pain... it was almost all I could think of, and I wished my mind would just blank out. Finally, mercifully, it did and I clung to the darkness, not wanting to go back._

"I really don't know if she'll pull through, she's hurt pretty badly. I've had to download almost everything about human medicine off the Internet and I had to call the local hospital as well. They were skeptical that she'd live." Ratchet said.

"What about her damage? Is there some way she could survive?" Prowl asked. Ratchet glanced down at the human female lying on the operating table in his lab. She looked almost the same age as Hayli, but her features were marred by blood and many of her bones were broken.

"Her entire right side was crushed; her ribs were stabbing her lung, that's why she has a tube down her throat to help her breathe. The bumper of the car shattered when she was hit, in addition to breaking her leg it severed a main artery, and I barely got it repaired before she would've bled out; I'm still not sure whether her leg can be saved... I've never seen an organic with a will to live that was this strong, set aside Hayli. Her arm is completely shattered though, I'll probably have to replace it with a mechanical one, and it looks like some of her internal organs are damaged as well, I'm not sure if I'll have to open her up in order to fix her." Ratchet said. Prowl stared down at the girl, he felt awful. It was bad enough when he hadn't been able to save Hayli when she was hit, now it was actually his fault for causing the wreck.

"Just do what you can... I'll leave you be." Prowl said, walking out the door as he tried to regain his thoughts. Ratchet turned back to the girl, he was used to working with metal and circuits, not flesh and blood, and he was a bit worried he might end up hurting her more but he shrugged it off and went back to work.

_I could hear voices, though thankfully my pain was gone for now. Where was I? What had happened? Was I dead?_

Ratchet was thankful she was unconscious already; he didn't have anything to put her under with and probably would have had to just wait until she lost consciousness from the pain. Regretful that he hadn't been able to repair it, Ratchet carefully amputated her right arm, replacing it with a slightly scaled-down version of one of Hayli's, minus her shoulder pad and arm guard. He avoided taking her entire leg, but he had to replace the bones with steel rods because they were shattered too much to be fixed. Ratchet carefully made an incision over the girl's right side and examined the internal damage. A few of her ribs had punctured her lung, and he removed all of the broken pieces of bone from her torso so they wouldn't cause further damage. He also had to remove her spleen, as it had ruptured.

He glanced up as her heart monitor gave a shrill warning that her blood pressure was dropping. Ratchet contemplated what to do, thinking quickly. The girl already had Cybertronian biology embedded in her, which wasn't necessarily compatible with her body; perhaps all she needed was a bit of energon to get her going...

Ratchet prepared a drip, drawing his own energon to be used before hanging the transfusion over the girl's head. He took a needle connected to the syringe and inserted it into one of the main pipelines in her new arm. Ratchet stepped back, surprised when he found it was actually working. The dull gray of her arm brightened to a shining black like Hayli's, and he quickly stitched up the incision in her side, noting that the blood leaking from her wounds was now mixed with glowing blue.

_I definitely wasn't dead; the pain had come back, though now it was more throbbing than slashing. Something was happening; I could feel what felt like ice creeping through my veins, spreading through my right arm and across my chest. The substance reached my heart, and I thought I was dying, but I wasn't. My heart seemed to crumple in on itself, it was extremely painful, but I couldn't cry out. I panicked when I didn't feel it beating, but soon the thrum returned, though it was different somehow..._

Ratchet worried greatly when her heart monitor flat-lined, he thought she had given up. Oddly enough, his scanner was picking up a Spark signature, but he thought it had to have been a mistake, she had definitely had a heart, and not a Spark when she was first brought to him. Curious, he hooked her up to a Spark monitor instead and was taken aback when a steady beat flashed up on the screen. He called Prowl in, showing him his findings.

"I don't believe this... It was strange enough when the All Spark changed Hayli, but how did this happen?" Ratchet said. Prowl thought for a long moment, taking in the girl's Cybertronian add-ons and the energon hanging over her head.

"I have a theory, though a bit far-fetched." Prowl said. "It has been stated that all living creatures have a Spark, though because most have such short life spans, it doesn't have time to develop. Perhaps the Cybertronian biology as well as the energon you transfused into her helped speed up the process...?" Prowl guessed. Ratchet shrugged.

"I wouldn't doubt it; nothing on this crazy planet surprises me anymore."

_The voices had returned, I must open my eyes and see what is going on..._

Prowl glanced at the girl again, doing a double-take when he saw a finger twitch on her un-mechanized hand.

_My eyes finally obeyed me, and I became aware of many things at once. There was a tube down my throat, and I felt an I.V. in my right arm, though when I tried to look, my arm wasn't there, it had been replaced by a metal version. Pained as I was, I started to panic._

The seriously wounded girl's eyes widened, and she tried to sit up, but Ratchet gently held her down.

"Easy there, you're hurt very badly. I had to re-construct most of your right side, though I couldn't save your arm." Ratchet said. The girl still weakly struggled, and Ratchet was worried she was going to hurt herself even more.

"Calm down, we aren't going to hurt you, what's your name?" Prowl said.

_I recognized these two from the news, they were Autobots, but my mind was set on getting out of there. I had lived on the street since I was twelve, I was now eighteen. I fended for myself, and there was actually something a bit off about me._

"Did you hear me? I'm Prowl, and you are?" Prowl tried to persuade.

_I couldn't have answered if I wanted to. When I had been on the streets a few years ago, a gang banger had slit my throat. I had barely survived, but now I could barely speak. The only sound I could even make was a scream if I was in pain. The red and white medi-bot who I think was named Ratchet pinned me down as I squirmed to get free. I desperately motioned for something to write with._

The girl was miming writing something down, and Prowl quickly retrieved a notepad and a pen. The girl didn't say anything, not even gratitude showing in her eyes. She scrawled something down hastily and turned it to face the two Autobots.

I'm mute, can't talk. My name is Aria. Please let me go, I don't want to be here! She had written. Prowl glanced at Ratchet, who shook his head.

"Not until you're recovered." Ratchet said. The girl's face darkened, turning angry, and she kicked Ratchet's hand with her good leg harder than he would've expected. She scribbled down something else and turned it to the pair.

I'm not dying now, so I'm going to go. Let me leave or else you're holding me prisoner. I didn't ask for your help, and now I don't have my arm because of you and I'm a freak now! She wrote. Ratchet looked helplessly at Prowl, who held up his hands in a 'don't look at me' gesture. Ratchet retracted his hand from Aria, who promptly sat up with a grimace. She yanked out the multiple wires and tubes that were attached to her, and swung her legs over the side of the table before dropping down.

How do you get out of this place? She asked on paper. Prowl pointed down the hallway and she left with a very heavy limp and slow pace.


	2. Chapter 2

I looked up from the T.V. at a heavy dragging noise to see the girl from earlier. She still looked badly hurt, but I was surprised she was alive at all. Without a word, she limped out of the base, and I leaned around to see Prowl and Ratchet emerge from the medi-lab.

"What was that all about?" I asked. Ratchet shrugged.

"I have no idea, you think when someone is brought back from the brink of death they'd be grateful..." Ratchet answered.

...

~Aria's POV

I limped out of the Autobot's base, for some reason, fury was the only emotion that I could hang onto. I knew I couldn't make it far, I was still hurt too badly, so like a dying animal I dragged myself to the woods outside of Detroit and stayed there, panting from effort. I was actually able to move my fake limb, though not very much. I leaned against a tree, sliding down the trunk and burying my face in my hands.

_Those stupid Autobots, they're the ones that got me hurt in the first place! Why couldn't I have just died? _I thought as I grimaced in pain. Now I was half-robot, a freak, no one would want to be around me, and it was all their fault. I thought about a kid on the street, well known between gangs and rogues like me. His nickname, Tomb, was modeled after his slogan 'Take out my brothers' because he had a reputation for double-crossing anyone who got in his way.

The idea was becoming more appealing to me, who cares if the Autobots had saved my life; they had ruined it as well. Now if only I could find a way to get back at them...

Loud griping reached my ears then, it sounded like only one voice, and I judged it to be heading right this way. It was odd, though, I didn't hear more than one being, but the tone of voice changed every once in a while. I didn't even bother trying to hide, simply waiting for the owner of the voice to stumble onto me.

"Ugh, vhy did Megatron have to send me to scout dis accursed place..." the owner of the voice said before the tone changed. "OOoooh a squirrel!" I heard before a loud blast followed by insane laughter. The source of the odd voice finally broke through the trees and was nearly on top of me before noticing me. It was a Decepticon, I could tell from the wings on his back, and there were missile launchers mounted to his shoulders as well as cannons attached behind them. I didn't move, and the Decepticon leaned down to me. I saw why the voices had changed, because his face spun from what had looked like a jack-o-lantern to a bluish, calm looking expression with only one eye.

"Vhat are ju doing all ze way out here?" the Decepticon asked, glancing down at my obviously injured appearance. "Zhou are hurt? Vhat is your name, organic?" he asked. I just shook my head, searching for a stick I could write on the ground with. I found one, and started to write with the Decepticon looking at me curiously.

"Vhy don't ju simply answer me?" he asked. I wrote the word 'mute' quickly on the ground and tilted my head back to show the scar over my throat.

"Ah, I see... Again, vhat is your name, and how did ju get hurt?" he said. I scratched my name, Aria, into the dirt. To answer his second question, I wrote the word 'Autobot' and hastily scrawled 'revenge' underneath it, tapping it with the stick for emphasis. The Decepticon looked at me thoughtfully, seeming to think for a moment.

"Ju have Cybertronian technology linked to you, and I'm picking up a Spark signature as vell. Ju have become a techno-organic, as ve call you... I think ve can help ju with your little problem, but ju will have to fully side vith ze Decepticons before ju can be trusted. Do ve have a deal?" he said. I considered a moment, then nodded, scratching out 'Name?' in the dirt. He gave a faint grin.

"Zey call me Blitzwing. Now let's go." Blitzwing said, picking me up somewhat carefully and activating rockets that I hadn't seen before. We were high in the air quickly, and I turned away from the far away ground and instead focused on the Decepticon insignia on Blitzwing's chest. He glanced down at me, tilting his head slightly.

"Are ju afraid of heights?" Blitzwing asked. I swallowed and looked up at him, nodding. His persona changed to the jack-o-lantern face and he cackled.

"Zis is nothing, ju are going to have to get over it if ju vant to be a Decepticon!" he said. I risked a glance down, somewhat confident that I wasn't going to fall, and I saw the tops of the far-below trees that from here looked like broccoli.

Blitzwing flew for a while in silence before dropping into a hole in the top of a plateau. He landed on his feet, me sitting painfully in his hand as he spoke with his crazy personality.

"Hey guys I'm home, look vhat I found!" Blitzwing said, holding me out to the Decepticons standing in the room. One of them with a dark pink, silver, and black paint job walked up and peered at me.

"Blitzwing, why did you bring this organic here, it's injured too, you should have let it die." the Decepticon said. Blitzwing changed back to his icy personality.

"It vas the Autobots that caused her to get harmed, Starscream. Her name is Aria und she vants revenge." Blitzwing said. A very large Decepticon behind him piped up.

"She wishes to join the almighty and powerful Lord Megatron? Our glorious master will have a new subject to rule?" he rambled.

"Put a muffler on it, Lugnut. Jes, she vants to join us, but right now she needs to recover from her injuries, is Shockwave here?" Blitzwing said. Starscream nodded, pointing out the door, and he gave a curious glance at me.

"Why don't you speak? Are you afraid?" he asked. I shook my head, lifting my chin and tracing the scar over my throat. Blitzwing answered for me with his hotheaded personality.

"It's not her fault she's mute, leave her alone you pile of scrap metal!" he yelled as he walked out. I got his attention, mouthing 'where are we going' because I couldn't talk. He switched back to his icy personality.

"I'm taking you to see Shockwave, he vill finish repairing you und give ju an upgrade so ju vill be able to keep up vith us vhenever ve go out. Zen I'll escort ju to Megatron so ju can properly join us." Blitzwing said as he walked into a dim room with a few large metal tables. Another Decepticon, who I assumed was Shockwave, turned when we came in. He had only one red optic set in the middle of a black faceplate, and when he spoke it was with an almost old English accent.

"Ah, this must be that techno-organic. I got your earlier transmission, I've gotten everything ready. Set her down over there." Shockwave said, motioning to a table with a tray full of sharp things next to it that I didn't really want to think about. Blitzwing did as he was ordered, and I grimaced when he put me down. Shockwave glanced at me.

"How would you like the opportunity to speak again?" Shockwave asked. My eyes widened, and I nodded intently.

"Very well, I will include that in your upgrade." Shockwave said, picking up a small device and programming it. I couldn't ask what it was, but he pressed it against my neck and a jolt stiffened my body before I blacked out.

...

"Uhhhhnn... What happened?" I said. Starting, I realized I could talk again and turned to Shockwave, who was cleaning his tools, a few of which I noticed were stained with what must have been my energon.

"How did you fix me? I haven't been able to talk for four years." I stuttered. Shockwave pointed at my throat.

"I didn't necessarily repair your organic voice capabilities... I installed a voice processor identical to our own and programmed it to respond to your processor signals. I equipped you with your own blasters and fully mechanized your internal structure as well. You've got a T-cog now, you'll be able to transform if we can find an alternate mode for you; though you do have flight capabilities on your own." Shockwave explained.

I looked down at myself, judging I was at least a foot taller from my added armor. I had a dark color scheme like most of the Decepticons; the majority of mine was dark purple, though I had silver and black highlights on my armor as well. A pair of silver and black metal wings were also folded lightly against my back and I craned around to admire them.

Blitzwing knocked on the doorframe, wearing his icy persona, and motioned for me.

"Come, ve give ju ze initiation now." Blitzwing said. I dropped off the table, surprised I didn't have a limp, and followed Blitzwing through the halls. He glanced back at me as we neared our destination.

"I vill warn ju, ze branding iz not pleasant..." he said as we walked into a large room where only one Decepticon was waiting for us. Blitzwing bowed, though I could tell he didn't really want to.

"Lord Megatron, here iz ze techno-organic that wishes to join us." he said. Megatron stepped towards me, and I tried to look like I wasn't intimidated. He went through a whole speech of 'Do you promise this' and 'Always destroy that' before asking me if I would accept. I nodded.

"Yes, I accept." I said. With that, Megatron picked up what looked like a sort of prod, but the end of it was the Decepticon insignia, and it sparked heavily with pinkish energy. Before I could back away, Megatron shoved the prod against my chest and I bit back a cry of pain as I felt the prod sear the insignia into my armor. When he stepped back, the Decepticon's symbol was permanently burned into my chest and small tendrils of smoke were rising from the burned part of my armor. I decided to start acting like a loyal Decepticon at once, though I wasn't going to grovel like Lugnut. I bowed, speaking without looking up.

"Thank you, Lord Megatron, I await my orders." I said.

"Leave me; go find an alternate mode for yourself." Megatron commanded. I backed out of the room, Blitzwing not far behind. I walked beside him down the hall, and he glanced down at me.

"So, how does it feel to be a Decepticon?" he asked. I put on my best evil grin and looked him in the eye.

"It feels great."


	3. Chapter 3

~ Hayli's POV

Prowl and I had been training together recently, we both needed to work to get back to full strength since we'd almost been taken offline. Our injuries had healed, but that didn't mean we were necessarily alright. I stumbled back a step as Prowl's fist solidly connected with my chest plate, then dropped down and spun on one hand, my legs sweeping his feet out from under him. He went with the momentum, back flipping off his hands and landing on his feet.

"Nice save." I commented and he smiled. Darting out of my sight, I whirled to find him and saw he was standing right behind me. Drawing back, I lifted my foot to give him a solid kick, but when I did my foot passed right through him and I lost my balance. The real Prowl jumped out of the rafters, knocking me down and pinning me under his foot playfully.

"I win." Prowl said.

"No fair, you used a hologram! Cheater!" I complained, squirming to get out from under his foot. He grinned at my struggles, easily keeping me on the ground because I was only half his size.

"Oh, do you want up?" he asked.

"Yes please." I said in a fake, extremely sweet voice. He laughed.

"Too bad." Prowl said. I groaned.

"Come on, get off me!" I said. Prowl started to say something, but both our commlinks activated and we simultaneously put our hands to our audio receptors.

"Hayli, Prowl, I need you two to run a scout mission around Lake Erie and the woods, there has been Decepticon activity recently and I need you to check it out." Optimus said over the commlink. Prowl let me off the ground and I gave him a 'you are so dead' look as I replied.

"On it, big guy." I said, deactivating my commlink and grabbing my jet pack off the floor where I had laid it so it wouldn't get broken when Prowl and I sparred. I took off, Prowl following not too far behind along the road. He came over my commlink.

"Hey, follow me; I want to show you something first. I found it a while ago..." Prowl said. I shrugged and let him pull ahead. He pulled into the woods, heading to a part of it I hadn't explored before. He told me to follow him on foot, so I complied, dropping through the trees and meeting up with him. It was that odd time of day when you couldn't quite describe the light, somewhere just before the sun started to set. I stepped as silently as Prowl through the undergrowth, and suddenly he turned to me.

"This is it, now close your eyes." he said. I looked at him quizzically, doing as he said and powering off my optics. He rested a hand gently on my shoulders and led me out of the undergrowth. I felt the surface under my feet change from dirt and grass to rock and Prowl stopped me.

"You can look now." Prowl said and I let my optics flick back on. I was standing on a cliff, Prowl behind me, and stretching out in front of me was a deep blue lake. It wasn't Lake Erie, simply a smaller one that was set into the woods, but it was absolutely beautiful, especially from here. The sun had just started to set, its light still beaming onto the water and causing it to sparkle. I turned to Prowl, a grin on my face.

"It's beautiful, Prowl." I said.

"Just like you." he replied. I felt my face flush and turned away from him, a small smile that I wouldn't dare let him see spreading over my lips. I instead folded my legs and sat near the edge of the cliff, looking up at the burning sky and spotting the first evening star. Prowl sat as well, staring thoughtfully up at the twilight sky.

"Jazz doesn't really think so, but I believe that this planet is even more beautiful than Cybertron itself." Prowl commented.

...

~Aria's POV

I ended up scanning the same type of jet that was Blitzwing's alternate mode, and Starscream begrudgingly gave me flight lessons. Screaming through the air at twice the speed of sound, it was easy to see how the Decepticons got so cocky. Being able to transform was amazing, I didn't just turn into a jet, I _was_ a jet. Angling my wings to turn or adjusting the foils on my wings felt as natural as walking. I landed in the base and transformed back into my normal mode. Megatron was waiting for me, and he ordered Starscream and I to come forward.

"Yes, Lord Megatron?" I asked. Megatron stepped aside to reveal Shockwave, who in turn held up a tablet with a still image on it.

"One of my camera bots has detected those two Autobot cyber-ninjas far away from Detroit, my liege; do you wish to pursue them?" Shockwave said.

"Yes, cyber-ninjas have the capability of drawing the All Spark energy from their surroundings; these two would be invaluable to us if we could force them to do it." Megatron said. He turned to Starscream and I. "Starscream and...Aria...You know what, if you're going to be a Decepticon you need a Decepticon designation. What does your human name mean?" Megatron asked. I thought for a moment, then remembered.

"I think it means 'from the wind' or something like that." I remarked. Megatron contemplated, then spoke.

"If you so wish, your name will be Breezeway from now on." he said. I told him it sounded fine and he lifted his head.

"Very well. Breezeway, Starscream, your orders are to capture the two cyber-ninjas and report to me when you do so we can transport them to our warship." Megatron said. Starscream transformed, asking something before we left.

"Lord Megatron, why don't you wish them to be brought back here?" Starscream asked.

"If you must know, our ship has better holding facilities and Black Arachnia is also aboard. If you remember, her interrogation methods are quite effective." Megatron answered before ordering us to leave.

Starscream was tracking the pair's energy signatures as we flew side-by-side. He spoke up, breaking the silence.

"Just so you know, these two won't give up without a hard fight. Here's the plan though; as soon as we land, I'm going to short out their commlinks with an EMP pulse, after that, try not to fight them so much. Here, take these, get them on the girl as fast as you can, I'll handle Prowl." Starscream said, transforming quickly and tossing something at me before transforming back. I caught it on one of my wings, looking at it a moment before asking him what it was.

"They're stasis cuffs. As soon as you snap them on, any movement from the wearer is detected and they are sent into stasis lock" Starscream said. I stayed silent, but Starscream broke the quiet as we neared the two cyber-ninjas.

"You know, there are very few femme Decepticons, and the only one I personally know is one of my clones, Slipstream. Believe me, that gets weird hanging around with her. I was thinking maybe sometime you and I could..." Starscream was saying before I cut him off.

"Don't even think about it." I said. Starscream shut up, leaving us in awkward silence before he spoke up one more time.

"They're almost right below us, stick to what I told you earlier, alright?" he said and transformed, dropping to the ground. I followed close behind, retrieving the stasis cuffs off of my wing. Like he said, Starscream ruined their commlinks and then leaped for Prowl. The girl, who I had seen at the Autobot's base but never caught her name, went to his aid. She hadn't noticed me with Starscream, so I flying tackled her and pinned her to the ground, bending her arm behind her back and pushing it painfully upwards. She cried out, and I noticed Prowl break away from Starscream. Quickly, I snapped the stasis cuffs on her and she stiffened before her optics went out.

Prowl blocked a blow from Starscream, recognition spreading across his face when he saw me.

"Aria?" he asked. I shook my head, surprising him when I answered back.

"It's Breezeway now." I said, jumping to help Starscream. Prowl spotted the girl on the ground and rammed me aside. I fell to the ground with a thud, but Starscream pinned Prowl to the dirt.

"Hayli!" Prowl cried before Starscream locked the stasis cuffs on him. I got up quickly, dusting myself off. Starscream looked at me when I did.

"Impressive work, where did you learn that move you used on Hayli?" he asked as he hailed the Decepticon warship. I shrugged.

"Street fighting, there are no rules there." I said. Starscream looked a bit confused, but shook it off when the enormous Decepticon ship appeared over our heads. Starscream grabbed Prowl's unconscious form and took off, so I hauled Hayli into the air as well. A dock opened up on the bottom of the ship, which I followed Starscream into.

Megatron and the rest of the Decepticons were waiting for us, and Shockwave and Lugnut quickly relieved us of our prisoners, starting to drag them away.

"Where are they taking them?" I asked. Megatron glanced at the two unconscious Autobots as they were taken away.

"To the lower decks, that is where the brig and interrogation rooms are. Any more questions?" he asked. I actually had one.

"Yes, my Lord, though it may be a foolish one to ask. Why is the symbol on the girl's armor different from the others?" I asked. Blitzwing answered my question with his icy personality.

"She iz part of ze Elite Guard, zat is vhy the insignia is different." he answered. I nodded my thanks, and Blitzwing's persona spun to what the Decepticons and named 'random.'

"Ju passed jour first mission! Ve should celebrate!" he said, laughing insanely. I gave him a look, and Megatron simply rolled his optics and walked out. Blitzwing started dancing very badly and was singing 'Celebration' very out of tune. It sounded even worse with his German accent. Most everyone else was annoyed, but I ended up laughing, something I hadn't done since I lost my voice four years ago.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Graphic torture ahead. You are warned**

I couldn't see, but I could feel and hear myself and Prowl being dragged through the ship. As far as I could tell, neither of us were injured, but I doubted we would stay that way. I felt myself tossed roughly onto a hard metal floor, and another pair of cuffs were snapped onto my wrists as the stasis ones were removed. My optics powered on, and I found myself in a dim room with Prowl next to me. Our hands were now bound with what I thought were normal cuffs, but when I tried to get them off with processor over matter, I got a nasty shock.

Prowl stiffened, and I assumed he'd tried the same thing. I saw it was Shockwave and Lugnut that had brought us here, and Shockwave efficiently removed all of our weapons, taking my sword and both of Prowl's ninja stars. He also deactivated the blasters in my hands. He and Lugnut conversed momentarily, and Lugnut turned to me, hauling me to my feet and roughly shoving me towards the door. Prowl called to me, but I saw he was struck by Shockwave and he fell to the ground.

Lugnut pulled me down the hall, turning and opening a door. This room was much brighter, and things that I didn't even want to think about their uses hung along the walls. And who else to be my torturer than Black Arachnia... She stood in the middle of the room, sneering as I was shoved towards her.

"I told you I'd be back." she hissed. She looked up at Lugnut. "Thank you, dear. Now be a good mech and leave me to my work." Black Arachnia said. Lugnut bowed, backing out of the room and locking the door behind him. Black Arachnia sliced downwards with one of her sharp back legs and cut my cuffs cleanly off. I knew I didn't stand a chance in a fight, I was unarmed and she had the home court advantage. I stood defensively as she walked in an easy circle around me. I had no doubt that she was good at what she did, and I braced myself for a long, painful time.

"I'll cut to the chase sweetie. You and Prowl are two of the few that can draw in All Spark fragments, and we need you to get them for us." she crooned, tracing a finger along my jaw line. I jerked away, and she smirked. "We also need to know where exactly those pockets of All Spark energy are. Be a dear and tell me now or we can do this the hard way." Black Arachnia said. In all honesty, I had no idea where the All Spark energy had gone, only that it had dispersed throughout the globe. Don't you hate when you tell the truth and people call you a liar?

"First of all, I'd never help you, Second, I don't even know where they are." I said. Black Arachnia sneered, then sliced one of her clawed fingers through my cheek. I saw my energon staining her fingers but refused to cry out. She knocked me down, pinning me and talking in my ear.

"You know, this is much more fun when you scream." she said. I struggled, but she pinned me down harder. "We can fix that easily, so I'll say again, tell me what I want to know or you are going to wish you had." Black Arachnia hissed into my ear. I shook my head defiantly, and she glared. She stomped down on my arm, hard, and I heard it snap. This time I did cry out, and Black Arachnia grinned down at me.

"That's better..." she said, reaching for something along the wall...

...

~Prowl's POV

For hours I was tormented by Hayli's screams coming from down the hall. I could only imagine what Black Arachnia was doing to her, and I didn't even want to think about it.

For a little while, I had futilely called her name, but Shockwave turned to me, knocking me to the ground once again.

"It's no use, she can't hear you, and even if she could, there's no way you could help her." Shockwave said. I glared, a protest welling up from inside me.

"Why didn't she come for me instead?" I shouted. Shockwave glanced at me before returning his gaze to the floor.

"Quiet down and she might not." he said. I narrowed my optics, but didn't reply. I noticed I hadn't heard Hayli scream for a while, and I feared the worst. The door slid open to the holding room and Lugnut grabbed me off the floor. I struggled, not because I was afraid of going offline, but because I didn't want to see what they had done to Hayli. Lugnut walked down the hall and opened a door, throwing me inside before shutting the door again and I heard it lock.

I looked up and instantly wished I hadn't. Hayli was lying on her side near me in a puddle of her own energon. One of her legs was severed below her knee and the other one didn't look much better; her kneecap was shattered and energon leaked from the cracked metal. My gaze traveled up her body in disbelief. She was covered in burns and cuts, and I could tell that her arm was broken as well. She had a slice on her cheek and I also saw a jagged slash over one of her optics. She was conscious, barely, and I could see that the injury to her optic had taken it out and she was blind in that eye. Her whole body shook with a combination of fear, pain, and shock; I could also see she had tears running down her face and I wanted more than anything to comfort her, but Black Arachnia stepped between us.

"You like her remodel? Now you had better tell me where the All Spark energy is and help us get it, or you'll look just like her." Black Arachnia said softly, stepping towards me. Hayli shuddered, then choked out a single word, 'Don't.' I glanced from her to Black Arachnia, then shook my head at the sadistic half-spider Decepticon. She growled, rearing back and plunging her stingers into my shoulders.

I cried out as I felt my circuitry rip apart, and she gave me a heck of a dose of venom before tearing her makeshift fangs out of me.

"There, you're poisoned just like before. Tell me what I want and I'll give you the antidote." she bargained. I shook my head, and she hissed, noticing how I kept glancing at Hayli, she looked at me and sneered.

"If not for yourself, then how about her?" Black Arachnia said, pulling a spear off the wall. I looked helplessly at Hayli, like her I had no idea where the All Spark energy was, and now she was going to die because of me.

"I don't know, honestly I don't." I pleaded. Black Arachnia frowned.

"Wrong answer." she replied before ramming the spear into Hayli's abdomen. Hayli didn't even have the strength to cry out, she merely twitched when the point entered her body.

"No!" I cried. Black Arachnia called in Lugnut and I was dragged away even as I was yelling every protest and insult I could remember. Lugnut looked up at Black Arachnia, asking her a simple question.

"Aren't you going to give him the antidote?" he asked. Black Arachnia shook her head, glaring.

"He didn't fess up, so let him suffer." she answered with a wave of her hand.

...

I had been sitting in a cell for what I thought was about a day, Black Arachnia's venom was slowly corroding my systems, but I made it a point to be a pain as long as I was alive. I kicked the metal wall of my cell about every five seconds, a satisfying crash resulting after each blow.

I swore I heard a commotion, and I stopped banging on the wall of my cell long enough to listen. I heard nothing, so I went back to kicking at my cell. I heard footsteps, assuming it was a guard I just kept banging on the wall, but to my surprise and elation, Sentinel Prime's Elite Guard team as well as Optimus and Ratchet were standing outside the bars to my cage. I got up quickly, and Jazz motioned me to stand back before drawing a pair of his nunchakus and battering the bars of the cell until they snapped and I could step through.

"Have you found Hayli?" I asked immediately. By the way that they all looked at each other I knew the answer was no, and I pleaded with them. "Please, we have to find her, she's hurt badly and..." I was cut off by Sentinel.

"There's no time to waste looking for her, we have to go!" Sentinel said. I asked one more time, nearly begging, and Optimus helped me a bit.

"Blurr, do a quick perimeter run, if you don't find anything we'll have to leave." Optimus said.

"YesOptimusPrimesir." Blurr said, saluting and taking off. I waited, impatient, and Blurr returned about a minute later.

"I'msorry,IfoundnotraceofHayli,whilethereisaslightchanceshe 'sstillaboardtheshipIdeduceit wouldbeofthegreatergoodtocea serescueoperationsandreturnt otheAutobot'sbasesoProwlcanrecievemedica ltreatment." Blurr said. I shook my head in disbelief, going to run down the hall myself when Ratchet stopped me.

"Look kid, you said yourself she was badly hurt, she's probably gone offline and that's why we can't find her. You can come with us, or you can try to run and I blast you with my EMP generator and make you deadweight that will slow us down. The choice is yours." Ratchet said. I slumped, then followed them off the ship, though I knew deep in my Spark that Hayli was still alive.


	5. Chapter 5

I had to admit, being a Decepticon ruled, you could do whatever you wanted, wreck shit, whatever. All you had to do was avoid pissing off Megatron, and that was really easy for me, especially because I was girl. Walking through the lower halls, I could hear the screams of Hayli as she was being tortured, and oddly it gave me almost the sense that I was listening to music.

I headed back up to the main deck though, where I saw that Blitzwing was annoying Starscream yet again with his random personality.

"Starscream, Starscream, hey, Starscream, Screamer, hey, guess vhat, guess vhat?" Blitzwing ranted, dancing around Starscream, who was fuming.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" Starscream finally yelled. Blitzwing giggled, and stopped right in front of Starscream.

"Hi!" Blitzwing cackled and jumped away when Starscream tried to hit him.

"You stupid waste of a protoform, you annoyed me just to say hello? Get back here so I can plant my foot so far up your aft your face might stop changing!" Starscream said, lunging for Blitzwing.

"Ooh, I should hold still den, ju vould be stuck vith me like dis forever!" Blitzwing cackled, still jumping out of the way when Starscream tried to attack him.

"Ju missed me again, jour targeting systems must be failing!" Blitzwing said, though finally Starscream just up and blasted him. Neither of them had noticed me yet, and Blitzwing's persona changed to the one dubbed 'hothead'

"Zat hurt you ztupid mech!" he said, aiming his fire cannons at Starscream. I decided I'd better step in before this got ugly. And as much as I hated to admit it, Starscream was right. Being a femme brought you some leniency when there were very few in the Decepticon ranks. I cleared my throat loudly, and both of them turned to face me, immediately dropping their argument. Blitzwing returned to his icy persona and Starscream grumbled as he left the room.

...

~Ratchet's POV

Prowl was visually upset, any bot could see that, and I wished we had been able to find Hayli as well, but it was simply out of the question. He seemed in a bit of a daze, probably just in mild shock, and I took him to the medi-lab to reverse the effects of Black Arachnia's venom. After the last time he was poisoned, I saved a little of the antidote and reverse engineered it so I had a stockpile if it ever happened again.

I attached a dose of the antidote to a syringe and took Prowl's arm, sticking the needle into one of the main energon lines in his wrist. Normally he would have at least flinched, but he didn't even move. I looked up at him sympathetically, I used to deal with death on a daily basis back during the Great War, but Prowl was different. I was afraid he'd be too traumatized if he lost Hayli again, after all, he had brought her back from the dead the last time. Unfortunately, Sari's key hadn't been working at all lately, and we guessed it had run out of power, so she, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead had gone to Cybertron to see if there was a way to repower it. I pulled the needle from Prowl's arm, setting it aside, I laid a servo on his shoulder.

"You wanna talk about it, Prowl?" I asked. He didn't look at me, focusing his gaze on the floor, but I did hear him speak quietly.

"She's not dead, I know she isn't." he said.

"How badly was she injured?" I asked. Prowl was silent for a moment, then described her injuries. I was somewhat horrified at Black Arachnia's work, but also marveled that Hayli had still been online when Prowl got there.

"I doubt it Prowl, but if she's still alive, you know she'll find a way to get back here." I reassured. Prowl kept his gaze steadily on the floor, his expression cryptic.

...

~Hayli's POV

I shuddered on the floor after Prowl was dragged out, in a state of shock and paralyzed in pain. The spear was wedged deep in my gut and the point couldn't be backed out. Black Arachnia gave me a look of dismissal before turning to face me.

"Just to make sure you'll be dead..." she said before plunging her stingers into my chest and giving me a large dose of her venom. My good optic was already flickering, and Black Arachnia called up to the bridge.

"Would one of you flyboys get down here and get rid of the pile of scrap metal in my office?" she said. She casually stepped over to me and flicked the shaft of the spear, making it sway and dig painfully into my stomach. A few minutes later, the door slid open and the girl who had been with Starscream stepped through.

"Breezeway? I thought I asked for a fly_boy_. Oh well, just get rid of her, if her injuries somehow don't kill her, my venom will." Black Arachnia shoved me with her foot, and I didn't even have the strength to cry out. Breezeway took me under my arms, and I felt the flash of fire from the broken one as she dragged me out of the room. She seemed somewhat cautious of the spear still lodged in my abdomen, and haltingly dragged me down the hall. I couldn't have walked if I wanted to, one of my legs was severed and the knee of my other was destroyed. Breezeway dragged me to an exit hatch, opened it, and contemplated something before activating her rockets.

She didn't take me all the way to the ground, but dropped me at about tree level onto the ground. I hit with a thud, my remaining optic blinking off momentarily. I caught a glimpse of Breezeway returning to the ship before I slumped onto the dirt. I had won, I had survived, now I just had to find a way to stay alive until I could figure out how to get a signal to my team. I thought as hard as I could with my fuzzy concentration, getting an idea.

Starscream had shorted my normal commlink, but I had had a private, internal commlink installed that was reserved only for the Elite Guard. I prayed it would work, then sent out a signal to any Elite Guard members that would respond. I was about to give up when a familiar, cocky, full-of-himself voice came over my commlink.

"This is Sentinel Prime, state your name, rank, and business." he said. I smiled very slightly, my voice quiet and hitching because of my wounds.

"You would not believe... how happy I am... to hear your voice..." I said.

"Who is this?" Sentinel asked.

"Hayli... Elite Guard officer... and cyber-ninja... currently in the middle of nowhere... in the process of dying." I choked. Sentinel was silent for a moment.

"You have sense of humor to the end, don't you? Hang on soldier, I'm sending your coordinates to Optimus and his crew, try to stay awake." Sentinel said before disconnecting. I was going to have trouble with the last part, but I was also fearful that if I passed out, there would be no waking up. Black Arachnia's venom seemed to be taking affect rather quickly as well, my insides burned on top of the agony I was already in. I focused all my concentration into simply keeping my good optic on as I waited for my team.


	6. Chapter 6

I turned to the scanner in my lab when it alerted that the Elite Guard had sent coordinates.

_Coordinates for what?_ I thought as I activated a tracer for the set of coordinates. A faint, pulsing blue dot appeared in a deserted area outside of Detroit, and I almost didn't believe it when it was identified as Hayli's energy signature.

"By the All Spark... she's alive..." I said. Prowl turned his head at this, pretty much the first movement he'd attempted since we rescued him.

"I told you she was. We have to go get her, she's probably dying right now and..." Prowl was saying as he started to get off the exam table where he had been. He swayed slightly, dizzy from the aftereffects of Black Arachnia's venom. I somewhat roughly pushed him back down.

"Stay here kid, Black Arachnia's venom isn't completely out of your system yet. Don't worry, you'll see her soon." I said. I grabbed my medi-kit and transformed, getting Optimus' attention as I went out the door.

"Let's roll out Prime, Hayli's alive, we just have to go find her." I said and Optimus wasn't far behind me. I had to admit, I hadn't met another bot that had as strong a will to live as Hayli. She'd been impaled, her throat destroyed, hit by a truck, among other things she always managed to hang on. I pondered why she did have such a strong will to stay with us, her mother and sister would be waiting for her if she went offline... I shook away the thought and put on my siren so the slagging traffic would get out of my way.

I took one of the roads leading out of Detroit, tracing Hayli's signal to an area far out on the edge of the woods. I made a sharp turn off the road, following the tree line, and spotted her after a while. I no longer needed the tracker, so I deactivated it and drove up to Hayli. She didn't look well at all, and if it weren't for the fact that her armor was still pale blue I would've thought she was offline. In fact, I thought it was a miracle that she wasn't; Prowl had described her injuries from when she'd been tortured, but it was even worse seeing it in person.

I knelt down, thinking I'd have to jump start her Spark just to keep her alive, but as soon as I took out my jumper cables her optics flickered on. Rather, one of her optics flickered on, the other was damaged beyond repair and she was blind in that eye. One of her arms was also bent in an unnatural position, no doubt it was broken.

"No need...doc bot. I'm okay..." she said hoarsely. Optimus remained in vehicle mode next to me, but he spoke up.

"No, you're not, we need to get you to the base so you can be repaired." Optimus said. I looked down at her, trying to asses what exactly needed to be fixed right here in order to be able to get her back to the base. The spear Prowl had described was still lodged in her stomach, and she was somewhat curled around it in pain. I was surprised she wasn't crying out, she must have been in agony from all of her wounds. I cut most of the shaft of the spear off so there was less chance of the spearhead moving. I would have to dig it out of her later, but I was just trying to get her stable enough for travel. I also put a tourniquet around her severed leg so it would stop bleeding and I shifted a bit, preparing to load her up for transport. She turned her head painfully to look at me, and I tried to pull my gaze away from her ruined optic.

"Sorry Ratchet, looks like you've got your work cut out for you..." Hayli said. I also saw she had two puncture wounds on her chest; Black Arachnia must have poisoned her to make sure she died; little did she know that we had an antidote or that Hayli wouldn't die from her injuries as quickly as she thought. I tried to lift her as gently as I could, but I could tell it pained her greatly and this time she did give a small whimper.

"I'm sorry, I know it hurts but we'll be back to the base in no time." I said, laying her on the back of Optimus' vehicle mode. I could tell she was gritting her teeth, and she gave a small nod, resting her head back and powering off her good optic as Optimus rolled off. I transformed, following him, and we both put our sirens on as we went back to the plant. Though Optimus was driving very carefully, I saw Hayli tense up every time Optimus hit even the slightest dip or bump in the road. Almost back to the plant, a certain black and gold motorcycle intercepted us and drove alongside Optimus. I snapped at the stubborn bot.

"Prowl, I told you to stay in the base! It's not like you to disobey orders, but lately you seem to have made a habit of it." I said. Prowl said nothing, simply driving beside Optimus until we pulled into the plant. Hayli's good optic powered on when I transformed and I gave her a heads up.

"I've got to move you again kid, sorry about this." I said and lifted her carefully but quickly before laying her on the operating table. The hand of her good arm was clenched into a fist by her side and she was trembling, trying not to show her pain. I attached her to a Spark monitor, grateful that the beat was strong and steady, though a bit fast because she was in pain. I didn't know exactly where to start, but I mainlined an energon drip into her good arm and gave her a dose of antidote to counteract Black Arachnia's venom. Her most threatening injuries were probably the spear in her stomach or her severed leg, but her leg was already fitted with a tourniquet so I focused on the spear.

The spearhead was buried far enough in her stomach that it couldn't simply be pulled out, the barb was set deeply. I felt around the spear gently, trying to estimate if it had hit anything major. Hayli grimaced as I did, and I noticed she had a trail of energon leaking from the corner of her mouth, a sign that she did have internal injuries. I had to pull on the spear slightly to see where each side of the barb was, and she bit back a cry. As a medic, I was doing my job, but as a teammate, I felt bad that I was hurting her. I didn't want to put her in stasis if she was already not stable, so I fired my EMP generator at the area around the spear. Only a few inches of the spear remained since I had removed most of it back in the field, and I picked up a scalpel. Making an incision over each side of the barb, I took the remaining shaft of the spear and pulled up gently.

I had underestimated Black Arachnia, because the spearhead wasn't just a simple barb. It had two sharp, curved prongs on either side of the spearhead, meant not only to firmly set the spear, but to tear apart the victim if they or the user yanked it out. I worked it out slowly, and finally got it, though with a fair amount of Hayli's energon and wiring stuck to it. Setting the spearhead on a tray next to the table I focused on the damage to her legs next. Thankfully, her leg had been severed below her knee, which left the joint unharmed; this way it would be easier to replace her limb. I simply left the tourniquet on her leg for now, if she wasn't bleeding then that injury wasn't too threatening. Her knee on the other leg though, was destroyed; I'd probably have to replace it as well when I reattached her severed leg.

I felt around her arm for the break then, found it, and took her arm carefully. I had some difficulty setting the break, but finally I heard a scrape of metal on metal and her arm held. I put a splint on it and put her arm in a sling before continuing to repair her. She had cried out once before gritting her teeth and trying to remain quiet. I had to hand it to her, she was a trooper. She must still have been in agony, but her only sign was her pained expression and her elevated Spark rate. Most of the rest of her wounds were minor, though painful, cuts and burns in her armor. The last thing I tended to was her optic, though I didn't think it could be salvaged.

A slash ran down her faceplate and over her optic, and I could tell that it was damaged beyond repair. Unfortunately, I couldn't replace it, unlike most other things like her legs, there were no spare optics made for replacement. I thought a while, then thought of what I had done for Jazz.

He had lost his sight early in the Great War, and I had built the visor he wore so he could see again. It sent visual images from an ongoing camera to his processor so he could always know what was going on. I thought I could do the same thing for Hayli, and I decided to work on it while she rested. I turned to her, she was still obviously in pain, but not in danger of going offline.

"Try to rest, kid, you've been traumatized as well as badly injured. Besides, I have some things I need to work on, and you need more work to get you back to normal." I said. She looked up at me, a faint smile on her face.

"Thanks for everything, Ratch." Hayli said. She looked away, like something was bothering her, and I asked her.

"What happened in there, Hayli? Do you want to talk about it?" I asked, gathering things to put together a visor for her. As soon as I asked her that question, her expression went blank, a hint of fear crossing it. I recognized her as having a flashback and she told me everything as she saw it.


	7. Chapter 7

*Flashback

Black Arachnia had taken what looked like a sort of prod off the wall, and she held it over my shoulder. I could put together what it was, the tip started glowing red-hot and she pushed it slowly into my armor, letting it burn through excruciatingly instead of just touching me with it. I cried out many times as she continued this until I didn't know how I could stand it anymore. I was not going to beg or plead for my life though, she might beat me, but she couldn't break me.

She switched tactics, picking up a scalpel from a tray and drawing it impossibly slowly through my side. I don't know when I started screaming, I didn't even really hear it over the sense of pain I was already in, but I could tell Black Arachnia was pleased. She kept leisurely cutting me until I thought there was nothing else on me to hurt. I was wrong.

She picked up what looked like an axe from the wall and crossed to me, grinning sadistically. I tried to drag myself away, though I knew it was a futile effort.

"Oh, trying to get away are we? Let's fix that." Black Arachnia said, smashing the flat of the axe blade into my knee and shattering it. I know I screamed, I felt its burn in my throat as she pulled back and raised the axe. My breath shuddered as I knew what she was going to do, and all I could do was watch as she severed my other leg below the knee. I had never felt anything as painful as what had just happened, I screamed, but that wasn't a powerful enough noise to express how much it hurt.

I trembled on the floor, energon spilling out of my leg as I just wished I would go offline quickly so she couldn't hurt me anymore. She sneered at me, kneeling down as I shook uncontrollably on the floor.

"Such pretty optics...pity." she said, raking her claws down my face over my eye. I was beyond the point of crying out now, but my optic sparked a few times before it went off permanently. Black Arachnia stood, looking at me snidely.

"I suppose you aren't going to help...what about your boyfriend?" she said, calling Lugnut over her commlink to bring Prowl in. I spit out a "No!" but Black Arachnia strolled over to the door when Prowl was dragged in. I fuzzily heard her asking the same questions she'd asked me, and I choked out the word 'don't' as she threatened Prowl. When Prowl shook his head at Black Arachnia, she glared and reared back, plunging her fangs into his shoulders and poisoning him.

He shuddered but remained standing, and Black Arachnia went across the room again, picking up a spear and twirling it as she stood over me.

"If not for yourself, then how about your girlfriend?" she said.

"I swear, I really don't know!" Prowl pleaded.

"Wrong answer." Black Arachnia said before stabbing the spear into my stomach.

*end flashback*

...

Ratchet remained silent, looking down at me somewhat horrified.

"I've heard some pretty bad torture stories, but that's pretty up there, kid. I'm surprised you remember it, most that are traumatized that badly can't help but get it out of their minds immediately. Unlike us, though, I suppose you can't delete data from your processor..." Ratchet said.

"How could I forget it, that was probably the worst thing I've ever gone through..." I said in a pained tone. Ratchet was assembling something quietly, and I craned my head to see what it was as he finished it.

"What is that?" I asked. Ratchet held it up for me to see, explaining as he did.

"It's your new visor. I can't replace your optic, unfortunately, but this will send constant camera recordings to your processor so you can see normally again. Ratchet fitted the visor over my optics, and though at first I couldn't see, something connected and my previous surroundings flooded my vision. Ratchet was right, now I could see just fine without my disabled optic. He glanced down at my mangled legs before looking back up at me.

"I might as well fix your legs now kid, but let me see something first. Try to bend the leg with the shattered knee, I know it will hurt, I just need to see if the joint still functions." Ratchet said. I nodded, already getting used to my visor, and gritted my teeth as I tried to tell my leg to bend. It wouldn't move, and I shook my head at Ratchet.

"I can't...it won't bend." I said.

"It's alright, I'm going to put you in stasis now so I can finish your repairs. See you when you wake kid." Ratchet said, picking up the small instrument he had used on me before and programming it. I felt the familiar shock and welcomed the bliss of stasis from my pain.


	8. Chapter 8

~Breezeway's POV

I yawned hugely, I had been awake for a few days in a row, mostly trying to keep up on the reports that everyone was having me fill out since I was the new one. Though I didn't feel tired as often as I did before I was turned into a Cybertronian, I was beat now and really needed a recharge.

The door to my room in the base slid open automatically, and a light flicked on, though I didn't need it. I flopped forward onto my bunk, sprawling on my stomach and using my arm as a pillow. I avoided recharging on my back if I could, my wings were sensitive and whenever I didn't sleep on my stomach or side I woke up with them aching. It was hell to fly after that too, my wings would burn when I transformed, so I avoided making that happen if I could.

I stretched out, relaxing, and powered off for a while.

...

Without even thinking a few hours later, I automatically grabbed a hand that had been shaking my shoulder and twisted it painfully until I gained my bearings of where I was. I powered on my optics and got up to see that I had a hold of Starscream, who was complaining.

"Ow! Let me go, Breezeway!" he yelped. I complied, confused.

"Wait, why the hell are you in my room? I was sleeping damn it!" I demanded. Starscream held up his hands.

"Well sorree! Megatron has been looking for you; he wants you and Blitzwing to run the scout mission today." Starscream said. I sighed and facepalmed, letting my hand slide down my face.

"Fine, whatever, but it's not my fault if I'm cranky for the rest of the day. I suggest you stay out of my way unless you want a swift kick in the aft." I said, brushing past him out the door. I yawned as I went down the hall, grumpy from being woken early. I had been worked into the ground lately, but it was worth it to be sided with the Decepticons. I walked into the main room, the one with a giant hole in the ceiling, and transformed with Blitzwing close behind.

Blitzwing's random personality spoke.

"Decide to finally join us from jour beauty sleep?" Random said, laughing. I angled slightly away from him, scanning the area as I did.

"Can it, Blitzy. I'm not in the mood." I said. Nothing was showing up on my scanners, but I flew the perimeter anyway. Blitzwing's persona changed to icy, probably the only part of him that was at least partially sane.

"Vell, a bit testy today, aren't ve?" Icy said. I was going to be annoyed, but thought of a remark.

"You'd be in a bad mood too if you woke up with Starscream in your face." I said. Blitzwing gave a small chuckle, and we flew the rest of the perimeter quickly before returning to base. I transformed, dropping into the base, and I crossed the room to a couch, flopping onto it tiredly. Blitzwing dropped in behind me, saw me, and stood in front of the couch.

"Bad day for ju?" Blitzwing said. I glanced up, noting it was Icy who was talking.

"A bit... I've been worked into the ground lately, I'm just tired." I said. His persona spun to Random and I inwardly groaned.

"Ooh! How about a story? Zat alvays cheers me up!" Random said. I sighed.

"Fine." Random giggled, and spun back to Icy.

"Were ju told that our base wasn't alvays here?" Blitzwing asked. I shook my head, and he continued.

"Remember zat cyber-ninja femme that ju and Starscream brought here? She vas ze one who destroyed ze old base. Actually, vhen she blew up ze relics, it took her offline. Shockwave vas caught in ze blast too, but ve transplanted his Spark to a protoform and zat is vhy he is still here." Blitzwing said.

"So how is that girl still online, or was, I don't know if she survived after being tortured, I just tossed her at the edge of the woods. And where is Shockwave, by the way?" I said.

"Remember zat other cyber-ninja ju captured? Prowl? He and Hayli have a bit of a relationship I suppose. From vhat I heard, he couldn't take it after a vhile and used ze key to bring her back. To jour second question, Shockwave is on Cybertron right now gathering intel." Blitzwing said. I nodded in understanding, my gaze drifting back to the floor. I sat in silence for a minute, then asked a question that I had on my mind for a while.

"I'm not saying it as an insult, just curious, why exactly do you have three faces?" I asked. Blitzwing tilted his head, considering, then told me.

"It iz a bit hard to explain, ze three different personalities zat I have came from three different Decepticons. Zey, rather I, was involved in an explosion and ze only way for all three bots to survive vas to combine dem. It iz in my programming to choose vhich persona vill handle ze situation ze best, zough Random..." Blitzwing was saying as his face spun to said persona.

"Seems to have more control! Ahahahahaha!" Random cackled before Hothead spun around, basically talking to himself.

"Ju ztupid crankcase! I vas trying to say something!" Hothead ranted. I found it sort of amusing that he was arguing with himself, and hey, I wasn't judgmental of it. Arguing with yourself wasn't a bad thing, as long as you don't come out of it with a black eye...

...

~Ratchet's POV

I laid the stasis inducing instrument aside as Hayli's new visor lost its blue glow. I moved to her damaged knee first, detaching the joint and leaving the lower part of her leg separated. I replaced her knee, reattaching her leg and welding the joint back to it. I then went to her other leg, removing everything below the joint and replacing her lost leg with the only spare one I had for her. This part of her repair wasn't difficult, but she wouldn't have wanted to be awake for it.

I decided to clean her minor wounds and dress the ones that were worse than the others. Cleaning the scorch marks and dried energon off of her armor made her look a lot better, and I soldered a few of her deeper cuts closed before she woke. I checked the wound in her stomach again, it was deep but hadn't hit anything vital, actually, the scarring from when Lockdown had impaled her had prevented the spear from going too far.

Stepping back, I sighed in relief and let her rest.


	9. Chapter 9

~ Prowl's POV

I had gone for a drive a few days later, though it was actually peaceful in the base with Sari, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead gone, I needed to get out. Coming back in the base, I transformed and headed automatically into my room. I heard Hayli before I saw her, she was humming something, and I walked silently into the doorway.

Hayli was sitting up in my tree, her arm still in a sling and a bandage wrapped around her stomach. Her burned and slashed armor didn't glint in the sunlight like it used to, but it would again when she was healed. I saw she was humming a short melody to a bird that was perched on her leg, and it was listening, occasionally fluttering its wings. A small smile crept over my face and I stepped deliberately in the one spot I knew the floor creaked.

The bird took off and Hayli looked at me. I tried not to stare at her injuries, but I couldn't help feeling as if somehow it was my fault. I glanced away after my gaze landed on the slash that was visible on her faceplate under her visor. She dropped from the tree, her new legs about the only thing that wasn't injured on her. She walked up to me, tilting her head.

"Did Optimus tell you?" she asked.

"Tell me what?" I said. She brightened.

"Since we both lost our weapons in the ship, well, at least Ratchet re-armed my blasters... but anyway, Jazz is coming to bring us replacements in a few days. Optimus said the Jet twins would probably be with him, but oh well." She said before walking out of my room. I stared after her, a bit dumbfounded. She had been tortured and mutilated to the brink of death yet here she was acting as if it never happened. I shook my head, following her out.

...

~Blurr's POV

_Oh come on!_ I thought as I struggled to get free of the pile of Seeker clones and glue. Contrary to popular belief, though I enjoyed talking as fast as I ran, my thoughts were highly organized. One of my legs was bent awkwardly and free, but it wasn't much use. Thundercracker whined above me and I craned my head back to see him.

"Oh no, I can feel this glue seeping into my circuitry..." he groaned. I sighed.

"Haveyouconsideredthepossibli tyofusingvaryingsonicpulsest oweakenanddissolve thegluethatisbindingus,ratherthancomplainingaboutit ,whichonlyreiteratesthecurren tsituationthatwaspainfullyob vioustousinthefirstplace?!" I said.

"Hm, my superior intellect is detecting a kernel of an idea in that heinous prattle of yours." Thundercracker said. He started doing exactly as I had said, and before long the mass of glue exploded, sending all of us in different directions. I landed on my aft, quickly got up, and sped away, activating my commlink as I did so.

"Cybertroncommand,codered! Megatronisonline,theDecepticonsarepursuingme andI'vediscoveredtheidentityofthe doubleagent,cananybodyhearme,isanybodythere,isthis blastedcommlinkevenworking?!" I said as I dodged shots from Thundercracker, who had followed me.

"Fool, you won't be able to warn your superiors in time!" he said. I spotted a large, almost vertical formation that tied in with the ground and I sped up, running directly up it and launching myself into the air.

"Iwillwarnthem! EvenifIhavetorunhalfwayacros sthegalaxytoCybertrontodoit!" I called. Thundercracker flew up after me, and to my amusement and advantage, my foot connected with his face, giving me enough traction to launch further and I landed on the rings of the planet that the organics called Saturn after bouncing off a lot of debris. Not even slowing down, I headed for Cybertron.

...

I had never run so far in my life, but I sped to the space bridge access where I knew Longarm Prime would be. Tripping on the floor, I rolled before skidding on my face and stayed there a moment, trying to take in enough air through my intakes to cool down my overheated systems. Looking up, I saw Longarm step back.

"Agent Blurr? What are you doing back on Cybertron?" Longarm asked. I got up, still trying to cool down, and gave him a 'just a second' gesture. Taking a deep breath, I stood up straight and saluted.

"Ihavereasontobelievethatther eisaDecepticondoubleagentino urranks,anylasisof voicepatternshasdeterminedth atWaspisnotthetraitor,furthermore,Ihavepositivelyidentified thedoubleagentastheDeceptico nShockwave,furtherquestioningwilldeterm inewhoisthe traitor." I said. Longarm looked at me with an odd expression before glancing around.

"Have you told this to anyone else?" Longarm asked.

"Ihavenot,peryourorders" I said. Longarm got a really creepy expression on his face.

"Good." he said before drawing back. I jumped out of the way as he smashed down his fist right where I had been standing.

"Doyounormallymakeitahabittot rytoslagyourownbots,sir?" I said as Longarm transformed into his tank mode and started firing at me. I dodged quickly, speaking as I did so.

"ThisseemslikemoreofDeceptico nbehaviorifyoudon'tmindmysayingso!" I said as I darted into the tunnels that I knew so well. I sprinted as fast as I could, getting fairly far before a door slammed shut in front of me. I instantly turned, the knowledge that Longarm was really Shockwave had entered my processor as soon as he tried to slag me. I was cut off again, and I realized that Shockwave was controlling the doors, eventually I'd be trapped.

I skidded to a halt as a door snapped shut in front of me, turning; I saw the one behind me close as well. I heard an awful noise as the doors started to close the space in the tunnel and I frantically tried to push them away. Starting to be crushed, I realized the only option was to go up.

Scrambling frantically up as the doors were crushing me, I felt my armor starting to crack. Something tore, but I squeezed through the doors and laid on top of them in the incredibly tight space. Panting, I knew I had to get out of there before Shockwave found me or I would be slagged for sure. It seemed like an eternity, but the doors started sliding apart, and my position was compromised as I tried to grab the edge of one of the doors so I wouldn't fall. It was no use, and I fell to the painfully hard metal floor of the tunnel. I then realized that I hadn't fallen on the floor, but a crushed, pale blue cube. I was confused at first, but then realized what had happened.

The doors had caught me at chest level, but I was to terrified at the moment to have noticed that it severed my lower half and crushed it. Looking down, I could see a bit of my Spark beating rapidly under the exposed edge of my armor. Thankfully, if I could somehow manage to get out of here and contact someone, it wasn't fatal. Though eventually, my rapid energon loss would put me in forced stasis.

I started to drag myself to a side tunnel that I knew opened into a trash chute. Noting that most of my armor was nearly shattered, I also noticed one of my arm guards had been ripped off. I thanked the All Spark that I had chosen speed over stealth when I was first created. Stealth doesn't do a fraggin' thing when you need to drag yourself away from somewhere quickly. I pulled myself to the door, which slid open automatically. My thoughts were starting to get fuzzy and I knew I didn't have long before I'd be in stasis.

I went over my basic functions over and over in order to stay focused and I continued to drag myself through the much smaller side tunnel.

_My designation is Blurr. I am an Elite Guard intelligence officer rank Alpha. I was one of the first bots built after the war that was permitted to choose their programming. I chose to be a speed bot..._ I thought as I reached the end of the tunnel where it sloped sharply downward and became a trash chute. I slid down it, trying to stop myself from going too fast, but the chute suddenly dropped into a vertical fall and I braced myself for the landing.

I hit the ground with a thud, and looked up in relief to see the stars in Cybertron's sky. Dragging myself a short ways, text suddenly flashed in front of my eyes that only I could see

"Energon levels at 2.037%. Stasis required." it read. I activated my internal commlink, debating quickly on who to call. Sentinel wouldn't care about me, he'd leave me to go offline if it wasn't convenient for him to come find me, so I contacted Hayli. She seemed to care about everyone, and Optimus couldn't say no to her if she needed to rescue anyone. I fought against going into stasis long enough to send her a brief message.


	10. Chapter 10

~Hayli's POV

I heard my internal Elite Guard commlink activate and I listened, not recognizing the voice at first. I then realized it was Blurr, but he wasn't talking as fast as he normally did. Wondering why he would be calling me, I listened.

"This is Elite Guard intelligence agent Blurr... The Decepticon double agent Shockwave trapped me in the tunnels and tried to take me offline, but I escaped. I'm currently in the landfill east of the city, though I'm minus everything below my chest. I could really use some help, I'll be going into forced stasis soon-" Blurr said before trailing off. I called him back.

"Blurr? Blurr? Are you still there? I don't know if you can hear me, but don't worry, I'm going to come get you." I said, deactivating my commlink. Prowl glanced after me confused as I got off the floor from where I'd been meditating and ran to the main room where Optimus and Ratchet were doing daily tasks.

"Optimus, we need to leave now, Blurr's hurt, he's missing his lower half and no one else knows where he is. He said that Shockwave is the double agent and tried to kill him in the tunnels but he got away, though right now he's in forced stasis, I assume from energon loss." I said. Optimus glanced at Ratchet, who nodded. I didn't really look the greatest either, my arm was still in a sling and my armor was scuffed and blackened still, but I wanted to help.

"Alright, I'll open a space bridge, we can bring him back to the base for repairs. Ratchet, get the medi-lab ready and try to find Blurr's bio stats so you can recreate what he's lost. Come on Hayli." Optimus said after he had programmed the space bridge to open outside. I grabbed my jet pack and followed Optimus through the bridge, somewhat disappointed that Prowl was staying behind.

On the other side, Optimus transformed and asked where Blurr was.

"He said he got to the landfill on the east side of the city, do you know where that is?" I asked. Optimus affirmed, taking off. I powered up my jet pack, following him, and he led me to a place that looked identical to the landfills on earth. I flew slow circles over the landfill, searching for Blurr as Optimus drove through below me. After a while, I found him not far from a sort of chute and I landed close by. His pale blue armor was cracked in many places; it looked like he had just barely gotten out of there alive. Though I could see his spark beating through his cracked chest plate and he was cut in half below where his chest plate ended, he was still alive. I also saw one of his arm guards had been torn off in his struggle.

Kneeling down, I shook him gently with my good arm, trying to get him to wake up.

"Blurr, come on, we're here. Can you hear me?" I said, shaking him again. His optics flickered on and he pulled away in fear before recognizing me.

"I'm sorry...I thought...Shockwave had come back...for me." Blurr said. I had to admit he sounded a bit odd when he wasn't talking as fast as he could run. I saw his gaze examine my healing appearance and I answered before he could ask.

"Prowl and I got captured and held on the Decepticon warship. I was tortured by Black Arachnia, she took out my optic, that's why I have the visor. She also broke my arm and destroyed both my legs, but Ratchet fixed me up. We need to get you back to our base so you can get repaired as well." I said. Blurr faintly nodded, and I picked him off the ground carefully before laying him on the back of Optimus' truck mode. Normally, I wouldn't be able to do it with one arm, but I was strong. The fact that Blurr was in half and slim anyway helped my cause.

I rode with Optimus, sitting next to Blurr to make sure he was okay. He kept slipping into stasis, but I thought he would be okay. Optimus radioed Ratchet for a space bridge, and one opened up in front of us, easily transporting us back to the base. Optimus pulled into the medi-lab, and Ratchet was already in field medic mode. He lifted Blurr from Optimus and laid what was left of him on an operating table. Scanning him, he turned to Optimus and me.

"He'll be alright, I need to rebuild his lower half and get some energon into him, but he's a tough kid. I gotta hand it to him, he's got smarts on top of speed if he called you. He must have known Sentinel wouldn't give a frag about him so he called you instead." Ratchet said. He rigged up an energon drip into Blurr's arm and shooed Optimus and I out of the medi-lab.

"Let me work, okay? You can see him in a bit." Ratchet said. I went back into the living room, where Prowl was standing expectantly. Optimus walked on past me down the hall, so I gave a summary.

"He'll be okay, he's just weak right now. He seemed more concerned about me than himself though." I said, lifting my arm that was still in a sling. Prowl seemed somewhat relieved, though I hadn't thought he cared much for the blue intel bot.

"I have news as well, Jazz was supposed to be coming later today, actually, with replacements of our weapons. Whatever was going on has been freed up, so he'll be here in a few megacycles." Prowl said. I nodded.

"I'll bet he won't be expecting Blurr to be here." I said.

...

Ratchet came out of the medi-lab a while later, and he gestured to the doorway.

"You can go talk to him if you want, he's awake." Ratchet said. I nodded, walking to the medi-lab, Prowl following me. Blurr turned his head when we walked in, I saw he still had a drip in his arm and I could just barely see the solder line under his chest where Ratchet had put him back together. He was still talking a bit slower, though he lapsed into his speed talk every once in a while.

"Thank you, Hayli, forsavingmylife." Blurr said. I smiled.

"No big, and besides, you got vital information and exposed Shockwave, you deserve a medal or something. You're still young, for an Autobot at least, you still have the rest of your life to do whatever you want, like kick Bumblebee's tail every time he thinks he can beat you in a race." I said. Blurr chuckled. I then heard a noise like an engine roar, which got louder and louder before it cut out. I realized it must have been Jazz, and I left Blurr for a moment to go open the door for him. As soon as I did, I inwardly sighed at the two twins that were standing RIGHT in front of the doorway.

"Hello Hayli!" they said in unison before noticing my arm in a sling and new visor. Prowl had also told me I had a pretty nasty scar on my face running from my ruined optic to my cheek.

"What is being wrong with you?" Jetfire asked. I let them into the base, followed by Jazz, who was carrying two black cases lengthwise in his arms. I answered the twins as I shut the door.

"Prowl and I were captured by Starscream and that new Decepticon, Breezeway. I got tortured by Black Arachnia, so now I'm minus an optic, my armor looks like crap, and my arm is broken. She also destroyed my legs and speared me in the stomach, but thanks to Ratchet I'm okay." I said. Jazz handed the two cases he was holding to Prowl and I, and I thanked him before opening it. Inside was an exact replica of my old cyber-ninja sword, and I slashed it a few times in the air before collapsing the blade and replacing it in its old spot over my hip.

"That feels so much better to know I have my sword back, thanks again, Jazz." I said. Prowl took the two ninja stars out of his case and returned them to their old place, thanking Jazz as well. I wanted to get back to Blurr, so I turned and motioned Jazz and the twins to the medi-lab.

"There's someone here I think you might want to see." I said, walking back to Blurr with the threesome following me. Jazz seemed surprised when he saw Blurr, and spoke up.

"Blurr? What are you doing here bro?" Jazz asked. Blurr grimaced, pulling himself into a sitting position.

"Ipositivelyidentified the Decepticon doubleagentasShockwave. He trappedmeinthe tunnels andInarrowlyavoidedbeingcrus hed. Ilostmylower half but Ratchet hasrepairedmewell." Blurr said, lapsing in and out of his fast speech. I had to hand it too him, Blurr was resilient, and incredibly smart, not many bots would have been able to get out of there alive. Jazz walked over, laying Blurr back down. Blurr resisted for a moment, then relaxed back on the table.

"Just rest for now, man. You deserve it. Tell you what, if Ratchet says so, you can hitch a ride with us back to Cybertron when you're fit to leave." Jazz said. Blurr nodded.

"Thatsoundswonderful, IhopeIrecoverquickly, notbeingonmyfeet is reallyuncomfortableforme." Blurr said, his speech already regaining its old tempo. We all left him in peace and I had the feeling that he powered off for a while. Blurr definitely deserved it, intel that vital wasn't found every day, and he'd almost died doing exactly what he was ordered.

...

Blurr recovered quickly, back on his feet almost the next day, he insisted on getting up to speed. Despite Ratchet's protests, we all turned a blind eye (me literally) when he wanted to go out, and soon he was back to his old self.

Ratchet finally declared him fit enough to leave, and Jazz led him back to the ship, waving his goodbyes.

"Thanks for the new weapons, man." I said. Jazz nodded starting to walk up the ramp. He called for the Jet twins, who were standing behind me.

"Come on you two, time to go, bros." Jazz said. The twins both slouched, and Jetstorm spoke up.

"Mister Jazz sir, can we not stay on earth with Hayli? She is needing to be taken care of, yes?" Jetstorm said, pointing at my arm in a sling. I facepalmed myself with my good hand and looked up at Jazz, mouthing 'help me!' Jazz laughed.

"No, not this time you two. Jetfire, Jetstorm, let's go." Jazz said. The twins looked at each other, sad, and started to walk out from behind me to the ship. At the same time, they both turned and hugged me before running off giggling. I facepalmed again, muttering to myself, and turned to go back inside.


	11. Chapter 11

~Hayli's POV

After a few weeks, Ratchet deemed my arm completely healed and I didn't have to wear the sling anymore. The rest of my wounds were healed as well, and my armor had taken on its old shine. A welcome surprise; Sari, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead returned to the base not long after Jazz and his crew left.

A predictable reaction, Sari ran up and gave her typical hug attack. I let her crush me for a few seconds before pulling her away.

"So, did you find out anything about your key?" I asked. Sari nodded, holding it up.

"Yeah, just like a dead battery. We found someone who figured out how to recharge it." Sari said. I nodded, turning to Bumblebee.

"Do you want to come with me on the perimeter run?" I asked. Bumblebee looked at me guiltily, rubbing the back of his neck.

"If it's all the same to you, I'm gonna power off for the day. I'm beat." Bee said. I shrugged, grabbing my jet pack and taking off, doing a routine scout mission of the city.

...

~Breezeway's POV

"Breezeway to the main hangar immediately!" Megatron's voice blared in my commlink and I flinched. Sighing, I dropped what I'd been doing and hurried to comply. Walking quickly up to Megatron, I stopped and stood at attention as was expected.

"Yes, my liege?" I said.

"That cyber-ninja girl is out on her own, I want you to terminate her. She should've been offline, but obviously Black Arachnia is losing her touch. I've given orders to Decepticons around the galaxy to eliminate any Elite Guard agents they encounter, without the Elite Guard, the Autobots are vulnerable. Go now." Megatron said. I saluted and transformed, rocketing towards the city. I spotted Hayli before she saw me, and she dropped into the woods at the outskirts of the city. Cutting my engines, I stalled and followed her down.

...

~Hayli's POV

I was planning on meditating by the lake Prowl had shown me, and I had contacted Optimus to tell him so. I dropped onto the forest floor, not making a sound, and started walking leisurely to the hidden location. I noticed that the birds weren't singing, which was an immediate red flag because I was being completely silent. I knew then I wasn't alone.

Picking a tree, I leapt up into the branches and crouched. A flash of purple and black shot right past my tree and landed solidly on the ground. I shifted just enough to see Breezeway, the one who had been with Starscream to capture Prowl and I. She must have been back to finish the job, but she was going to find that a harder task than she anticipated. She started to walk under my tree, and with the grace of the cyber-ninja that I was I jumped out of the tree and landed on top of her, knocking her to the ground.

I rolled off of her and came up on my feet, drawing my sword as I did so. She glared, pushing off the ground and standing.

"Long time no see." I said, circling her. She glared.

"Nice scars. Oh, was the pathetic old medic not able to fix your eye?" Breezeway sneered when she noticed my visor.

"I can see fine, not that I'd need to be able to kick your aft all the way back to your base. You're so sloppy I could take you with one servo behind my back!" I insulted and Breezeway charged at me, which was just what I had wanted.

I dodged, getting in a shallow cut on her leg. She whirled, her crimson optics blazing, and took aim with the blasters mounted to her forearms. I flipped away, springing off one of my hands and firing a few shots of my own. Breezeway blasted at me openly, and I dodged all of her attacks. She shouted at me as I flipped and danced away from being injured.

"Would you hold still?! Believe me, this would go a whole lot faster if you did!" Breezeway said. I smirked.

"That's kind of the point. You didn't expect I'd go down without a fight, did you? Don't fool yourself, you're out of your league. I've been doing this longer than you, and my actions aren't fueled by anger, just a will to survive and protect who I need to." I teased. She narrowed her eyes and came at me, but I didn't see it was a ruse until it was too late.

I started to leap aside to avoid her, and she tracked my path before firing off a shot at me. I couldn't change my direction in the air, but I changed my angle and dropped like a rock to the ground. Instead of hitting its desired target in my chest, the shot skimmed my back. I hit the forest floor hard, instantly on my feet again. Breezeway growled

"Urg! Why won't you just die!?" she said. She charged again, and this time I made sure she'd leave me alone. I ducked down as she came, bringing up my sword and slicing off most of one of her wings. She cried out, backing away from me after she snatched her severed wing from the ground. Energon dripped from the wound and she glared menacingly at me.

"This isn't over, I'll kill you myself one day, count on that!" she spat and took off, though clumsily and not able to transform because of the injury I'd given her. I used my sword as a mirror after she'd gone to see if the shot she'd managed to hit me with had done any real damage. I was pleased to see it was just a scorch mark, she hadn't even made it through my armor. Dusting my hands off and sheathing my sword, I folded my legs and sat on the ground to meditate.

...

~Breezeway's POV

Hayli was definitely on my bad side now, and I regretted I hadn't just shoved her out of the ship instead of flying her down. My flight was erratic and difficult because I was minus a wing, and I couldn't even think of transforming because I would certainly crash and burn. Muttering to myself, I flew back to the base and dropped through the hole in the ceiling. My back hurt from the pain of my severed wing, and the shallow cut on my leg stung as well.

I slumped and started to walk back to my quarters, but Blitzwing stopped me when he saw I was leaking energon.

"Vhat happened to ju?" he asked with his icy personality. I sighed, turning and tossing my wing at him, which he caught and looked disgusted at.

"That cyber-ninja can fight better than I thought. She knew I was coming and ambushed me." I said. Blitzwing motioned me to follow him, and I did.

"Ju need to see Shockwave, he'll fix ju up." Blitzwing said before switching to his hotheaded personality. "And den ve can destroy zat Autobot girl who did dis to ju!" he said. I huffed.

"Thanks, Blitzy." I said, and Blitzwing's persona spun back to icy as we walked into the med-bay. Blitzwing explained, pushing my severed wing into Shockwave's chest. Shockwave took it, surprised, and merely pointed at a table. I sat on it, the remainder of my wing dripping energon onto the table about every three seconds. Blitzwing left, and Shockwave turned back to me, holding my wing and a torch.

I held still but gripped the edge of the table as he soldered my wing back on. I felt the circuits and nerves reconnect and he welded my wing into place.

"There, I recommend staying grounded for at least a day though." Shockwave said, stepping away and returning to his work. I tested my wing, it was sore but at least now it was usable. I left the med-bay, walking down the hall.

I was just about to turn a corner and head back to the main hangar when someone blindsided me. I saw a flash of gray before a large hand was clamped around my throat and had slammed me into the wall. Stunned, I found myself face-to-face with Megatron himself. He pinned me by my throat, and I could tell my feet were well off the floor as he growled in my face.

"Know something, Breezeway. You may be new, but I do NOT accept failure. Don't let it happen again, understand?" Megatron said. I choked out a 'yes, sir' and Megatron released me, letting me fall to the ground. He turned to leave, giving a final remark.

"The fact that you are a femme may earn you leniency with my underlings, but you will receive no sympathy from me. Return to your duties." he said, walking away. I got up, rubbing my neck, and out of nowhere Starscream was at my side. I gave him a look.

"What do you want?" I spat, irritated and somewhat scared of Megatron.

"I saw, well, heard that little incident. I have a proposition, though I can't talk about it here. Follow me tomorrow on the scout mission and we'll talk." Starscream said before leaving. I watched him leave, then shook my head and went to fill out the stack of reports that had been piling up.


	12. Chapter 12

~Breezeway's POV

The next day, I somewhat snuck out with Starscream and followed him to a remote location. He landed and transformed, and I did the same, standing with a hand on my hip.

"So what do you want?" I asked.

"Do you agree our master is a bit...abrasive, to put it lightly?" Starscream asked. I tilted my head, then nodded.

"I'm going to split from that accursed Megatron sometime soon, I'd like if you'd join me. My clones are loyal to me as well, we won't be alone." Starscream said. I didn't really like the idea, but I shrugged.

"I'll think about it. Why did you come crawling back to him in the first place? I asked. Starscream looked ticked, but shook his head.

"Don't worry about it... we should get back before Megatron starts looking for us." Starscream said.

...

~Hayli's POV

I heard static in my ear and was about to activate my commlink, but I realized that it was my internal Elite Guard commlink that was the source. I activated it instead, and Sentinel's voice filled my head. I could tell he was talking to everyone, not just me.

"Elite Guard officers around the galaxy, be aware. The Decepticons have been doing their best to assassinate any officers they find. Ultra Magnus is down, and I haven't been able to locate the Jet twins either. As further notification, intelligence agent Blurr's life has been attempted but he escaped with help from another officer. That is all, but be warned." Sentinel said, patching out.

I got up from the forest floor where I'd been meditating, activating my Elite Guard commlink as I flew back to the base. I wasn't familiar with the formalities of being an officer, Optimus didn't require we call him 'sir' so it felt odd when I had to talk to Sentinel.

"Sentinel Prime sir, this is Elite Guard officer Hayli." I said, waiting for his reply. I heard static a few seconds later and Sentinel answered.

"What do you want? I'm a bit busy right now. You aren't dying again are you?" he asked. I half-smiled at this, talking as I flew over Detroit.

"No, I'm fine, thankfully. I was calling to ask about the Jet twins, actually. If they're missing, shouldn't someone be trying to find them?" I said.

"Those two are resilient, and at the moment we don't have any officers to spare to go find them." Sentinel said. I touched down in the courtyard outside of the base, somewhat appalled that Sentinel wouldn't want to locate the most valuable pair of Autobots in his ranks.

"Sir, what about me? Optimus and the team, as well as myself, are very open to help when needed." I said. I heard Sentinel sigh.

"Alright, I'll authorize it. Just don't get yourself taken offline. And Hayli... hopefully they'll be in one piece. I know you'll find them." Sentinel said, disconnecting. I walked into the base, getting Optimus' attention. He turned, looking down at me.

"What is it, Hayli?" he asked. I adjusted my jet pack, getting ready to leave.

"I need a space bridge to Cybertron again. The Jet twins are missing and I'm going to look for them." I said. Optimus nodded.

"Consider it done, but either take one of us with you or find someone over there that will help you. I've heard that Elite Guard officers are being targeted by the Decepticons, I'm not comfortable with you being alone." Optimus said. I nodded, and Prowl stepped up.

"I'll go with you, but I think it would be a wise idea to find more help." Prowl said. Optimus turned and programmed a space bridge to open up in the courtyard. I left the base, waving goodbye, and Prowl followed me into the portal.

...

I had a feeling that the twins were still on Cybertron somewhere, but I did find some more help. It wasn't long after I called around that a particular pale blue speed bot located us, stopping abruptly.

"HelloHayli,I' .Theysupposedlywererunningasc outmissiontomonitoranynewDec epticonactivity, ." Blurr said, cutting right to the chase. I nodded, activating my jet pack and flying over Prowl and Blurr as Blurr led us to the abandoned city.

...

~Jet twin's POV

"Brother, please, do not be straining yourself. You are hurt." Jetstorm said, leaning over his twin and examining the gaping hole in Jetfire's stomach. Only a few minutes ago, they had been ambushed by the female clone of Starscream, Slipstream. She had managed to blast Jetfire before making her escape, and now the orange and white twin was helplessly on the ground.

"I am fine; we are needing to be going back to Sentinel Prime. Our report..." Jetfire was saying, trying to sit up but sparks were cracking out of his wound.

"...Can wait. You are more important to me than our commanding officer." Jetstorm interrupted. He was right; the two twins were closer than any other bots in existence. They not only did everything together, but they were special. Because the two were split from the same Spark, the Spark of Safeguard the bot they combined to become, the twins were linked in unusual ways. They could hear each other's thoughts and they felt each other's emotions, as well as their pain. Jetfire was torn up to see his twin in the same agony he was, even though Jetstorm was uninjured.

"We need to get out of here, brother. We are being not safe; the Starscream femme could come back any time." Jetstorm said, trying not to show he was in the same pain as Jetfire. "You should power off, it will be helping you." Jetstorm said. Jetfire tried to protest.

"If I do then I will be deadweight, I will be slowing both of us down." Jetfire said.

"It will be fine, you are not that heavy. Unlike that bulbous green bot, what was his name?" Jetstorm assured. Jetfire smiled a bit.

"His name is Bulkhead. And if you want I will recharge for a while." Jetfire said. Jetstorm nodded, and Jetfire relaxed back on the ground, his optics powering off as he went into stasis. Jetstorm felt the usual surge of fatigue that hit him whenever his twin was asleep and he was not, but he shook it off, staying on guard for his twin. The pain he'd felt with his brother had faded, Jetfire wasn't aware of it while he was in recharge so therefore it wasn't felt by Jetstorm.

Jetstorm picked up his brother carefully, holding him in his arms as he walked evenly to his desired location. Looking up, he spotted a hole in an abandoned building and activated his rockets. While carrying his brother, he wouldn't be able to fly far, but getting into the building wasn't difficult. He touched down inside, setting his brother down as he scouted around in the building. Satisfied that it was clear, he decided to let Jetfire rest and considered powering off himself.

Before he did, he examined the wound on Jetfire again. Even as Jetfire slept, sparks cracked and shot out of his stomach and his energon seeped slowly from it. Jetstorm winced the same time his brother did at a stab of pain, even in recharge Jetfire wasn't escaping his pain. Jetstorm frowned, he was at a loss of what to do, and he cradled his twin as he let fatigue take over.

...

_Brother...Brother, please wake up! _Jetfire's panicked thought ran through his twin's mind. Jetstorm snapped awake, sitting up and instantly noticing that Jetfire was no longer in his arms.

"Brother!" Jetfire's shrill cry echoed through the building and Jetstorm found him quickly. Jetfire was being held well off the ground, tightly in Slipstream's grasp. Jetstorm glared, he went into an overly protective mode whenever his twin was in danger, and Jetfire would do the same.

"You are going to put him down, now." Jetstorm growled, his voice taking on a tone it rarely did.

"Or what? You'll blow on me with that stupid wind power of yours?" Slipstream said, her sarcastic nature in full swing. Jetstorm glared.

"Put. Him. Down." he said. Slipstream sneered, releasing her grip and dropping Jetfire to the floor. Jetstorm felt a brief flash of pain when his twin hit, then pulled back and blasted Slipstream with a hurricane-force gale that knocked her off her feet. He ran to his brother, kneeling by him and seeing if he was alright.

There was something else special about Autobot twins. They were very rare, and a solemn fact was discovered in the last set. If one twin happened to go offline, the other couldn't emotionally exist without them and would shut down, remaining in a panicked state until some kind bot came along and put them out of their misery. Jetstorm didn't think his brother was in danger of going offline at the moment, but he didn't have time to soothe his twin.

Slipstream had snuck up behind him, and just as Jetfire yelled a warning, Slipstream knocked Jetstorm over the head, causing him to immediately power off and drop to the ground. Jetfire went limp as well, not strong enough to fight the fatigue of his brother being knocked out. Slipstream huffed, picking up Jetfire and contemplating whether to take his brother. She decided against it, her flying would already be hindered by Jetfire, and she had a long way to go to the old Decepticon base that was still hidden on Cybertron.

Slipstream sneered to herself, Black Arachnia might have been the torture artist of the Decepticons, but Slipstream was no stranger to it either. She could possibly get some intel out of the small Autobot before she tortured him to death.

...

Jetstorm woke with a start, putting a hand to his head where Slipstream had hit him. He looked around quickly, already knowing that his twin was gone. Jetstorm buried his face in his hands, tears leaking out of his optics and pooling behind his visor.

"I am sorry brother...I have failed you." Jetstorm said, briefly taking off his visor to wipe his optics. He stood, replacing his visor as he stepped towards the hole in the wall of the building. Surprisingly, he heard his Elite Guard commlink activate and he listened.

"Jetfire? Jetstorm?" A familiar, female voice asked. Jetstorm's optics widened.

"This is Jetstorm, is it really you, Hayli?" he asked. Hayli responded.

"Yes it's me. Where's your brother? Why isn't he answering me?" Hayli asked. Jetstorm's mood immediately darkened again.

"He has been taken by Slipstream, he is also injured badly. I will meet up with you so we can find him, where are you?" Jetstorm said quietly.

"On the edge of the abandoned Decepticon city, are you still there?" Hayli said. Jetstorm leaped out of the building, transforming and flying over the rooftops.

"Yes, I'm still here, I will be looking for you." Jetstorm said, deactivating his commlink. He flew in circles, searching for Hayli, and met up with her in the air.

"There you are, come on; I've got Prowl and Blurr with me. We'll help get your brother back." Hayli said. Jetstorm nodded, hiding the ache in his stomach when Jetfire must have woken up. Jetstorm transformed and followed Hayli to the ground, Prowl and Blurr waiting for them.

"I'm sorry about Jetfire, but don't worry, we'll find him." Prowl said, putting a hand on Jetstorm's shoulder. Jetstorm nodded, about to follow them, when a searing pain hit his chest and he stopped. Another sharp pain hit his stomach and he doubled over slightly. Hayli turned around and ran back to him, kneeling and looking over him.

"Jetstorm, what's wrong?" she asked, concerned. Jetstorm stood straight, trying to hide the pain.

"It is Jetfire, he was already injured, but he must be being tortured now..." Jetstorm said. Hayli was confused, but Blurr explained.

"TheJettwinsareverycloselylin kedtoeachother,theycanfeeleachother'spainand emotionsaswellasheareachothe r'sthoughts." Blurr said. Jetstorm looked dejectedly at the ground for a moment before getting an idea.

"He is right, I can hear brother's thoughts and he can hear mine. If I can get him to tell me where he is, we can be rescuing him!" Jetstorm said hopefully. He concentrated, sending a thought to his twin.


	13. Chapter 13

Jetfire couldn't have moved if he wanted to, the stasis cuffs around his wrists and ankles wouldn't allow it. In fact, they renewed their lock on him right after Slipstream sliced a new wound near the existing one in his abdomen. He grimaced, if it was hurting him this much, Jetstorm would be feeling the same thing.

"Okay you little pest, where are the other Elite Guard agents? My orders are to eliminate any that I find, but I know if I kill you your precious twin won't be far behind." Slipstream said. Jetfire scowled.

"I will never be telling you anything, ugly witch-femme." Jetfire spat. Slipstream growled, raking her claws across his face, leaving deep gouges in the white metal. Jetfire yelped in pain, and Slipstream sneered.

"I would think twice about insulting me, sparkling. You shouldn't be so stubborn about this, believe me, it will only bring you more pain... It will bring your brother more pain as well, won't it?" Slipstream said sadistically. Jetfire's optics narrowed.

"Whatever I can take, brother can as well." Jetfire said. Slipstream placed her claws at one side of Jetfire's chest, digging in slightly.

"Well, I suppose he won't mind then if I carve some more scars into that puny orange and white chassis of yours." Slipstream said, slashing Jetfire lengthwise across his chest. Jetfire cried out, despairing for his twin that must be in the same agony.

_Brother! You must tell me where you are!_ Jetstorm's voice echoed in Jetfire's mind. Jetfire almost smiled in relief, Jetstorm was okay and coming to rescue him.

_Lower levels of the Decepticon's base on Cybertron. I am sorry brother, you must be hurting as I am..._ Jetfire sent his thought to his twin, getting a reply quickly.

_I am fine, but you are not. Be hanging on, I will be there as fast as Blurr._ Jetstorm said. Jetfire flicked his gaze up to the ceiling, not giving up, but rather bearing through whatever Slipstream could dish out.

It seemed like hours, but his brother didn't avoid a grand entrance. Jetfire flicked his optics to the side as one of the walls exploded inward, debris and dust filling the air. Slipstream coughed to clear her intakes, hissing when Jetstorm leaped through the smoke and landed near his twin.

"How did you find him?! That's impossible!" Slipstream snarled. Jetstorm's face darkened.

"You hurt my brother. Now I will be hurting you!" Jetstorm growled before attacking Slipstream. Hayli, Prowl, and Blurr stood somewhat astonished as Jetstorm tackled Slipstream and pounded her mercilessly. A few times, Slipstream broke away, but Jetstorm's small blue frame was a blur as he took her down again and again.

Hayli crossed quickly to Jetfire, releasing the stasis cuffs and pulling him gently off the table where he'd been restrained. She dragged him out of the line of fire, examining his wounds as Prowl stepped in behind Jetstorm.

Jetstorm was currently pinning Slipstream to the ground, drawing back again and again to smash his fist into her face. Slipstream had been knocked into stasis after a few of his blows, and Prowl caught Jetstorm's hand as he drew back again. Jetstorm whirled, enraged, before seeing who it was and calming down. He stepped back from Slipstream, stumbling away to his brother and kneeling on the ground. Jetstorm was trembling slightly, just beginning to realize what he had done.

Hayli picked up Jetfire, though he was bigger than she was she was still able to carry him. Prowl glanced over at Jetstorm before looking back at Blurr.

"I've never seen him go off like that. Have you?" Prowl asked. Blurr shook his head.

"No,notpersonally. I'veheardthatJetfiredidthesame thingthoughduringabattle simulation. Thedronesstartedgoinghaywire andnearlykilledJetstorm,that'swhenhistwin starteddestroyingeverythingt hatcamenearthem." Blurr said, looking considerately at the twins. Hayli got Prowl's attention, somewhat hefting Jetfire to rebalance his added weight.

"Should we take him back to base for Sari's key or leave him at the Elite Guard infirmary?" Hayli asked. Prowl considered, then spoke.

"I believe taking the both of them back to base will be sufficient. Sari's key will heal Jetfire quickly, and there has been little Decepticon activity around Detroit recently." Prowl said. Hayli nodded her acknowledgement, then started to make her way out of the base. She picked her way around collapsed sections and rubble, careful because she was still carrying Jetfire. She called back to Prowl.

"Actually, that last part you said is kind of a lie. Breezeway tried to kill me in the woods, but I warded her off." Hayli said. Blurr tilted his head at this, a slight, cocky smirk on his face.

"Iwaswonderingwhatthatscorchm arkonyourbackwasfrom. Ihaveactuallybeen trackingthatDecepticontechno -organic,sheseemstobeposingagreateran dgreaterthreattous." Blurr said. Hayli continued to exit the abandoned base, talking without looking back.

"How do you know about Breezeway? You've never met her." Hayli said. Blurr scoffed.

"Youcouldn'tpossiblyhaveforgottenthatI'maninelligenceagent. ADecepticon nanobotcouldn'tbackfirehalfwayacrossthegal axywithoutmeknowingaboutit." Blurr said. Hayli chuckled, trying to look for a route over a few slabs of concrete.

"I think you may be exaggerating, Blurr." Hayli said.

"Abit,butmypointwasmade." Blurr said. Hayli stumbled when a piece of rubble shifted under her and she nearly dropped Jetfire. He winced at the sudden movement and she looked at him apologetically.

"Sorry." Hayli said, shifting Jetfire and getting to level ground again. Jetfire managed a smirk.

"This is actually being not so bad." Jetfire said. Hayli glanced down at him.

"And how is that?" she asked.

"Because I got to have you being the one that carries me out of here." Jetfire chuckled, and Hayli would've facepalmed had she had a free hand.

"I could drop you right here." Hayli said. Jetfire's face dropped.

"I will be shutting up now." he said.

**Sorry, short chappie, I think next will be longer. Let me know what you think, PM's and reviews make me feel special and I will get back to you with the very least a thank you. Aurrawings out! ^~^**


	14. Chapter 14

~Hayli's POV

I carried Jetfire through the dilapidated city, occasionally flying over sinkholes or very large pieces of rubble. The other three weren't having much trouble navigating the wreckage. Though Jetstorm was being silent, sharing Jetfire's pain, he still easily flew over anything I did. Prowl used his boosters as well, and Blurr would simply step back and run along a wall or building before leaping off onto the other side.

We finally made it out of the city, and Prowl contacted Ratchet to open a space bridge. I heard Ratchet affirm, and quickly a portal opened near us. I turned to Blurr, shifting Jetfire again and noticing he'd powered off.

"Are you coming with us, Blurr?" I asked. Blurr shrugged.

"Isuppose. ThereisnothingformetodoonCybertronatthecurrenttime ,Sentinelhas postponedbasicallyallmissionsandintelligencerunsbe causeoftheassasinationsofEliteGuard officersrecently. I'vebeenrevvingtodosomething,andrunninganobservati ononEarth wouldn'tdoanyharm." Blurr said. I gestured him through, and Prowl followed, going in front of me. I noticed Jetstorm was a bit sluggish, and I asked him as I walked through the space bridge.

"Something wrong?" I asked. Jetstorm shook his head.

"No, it is just because brother is asleep and I am not." Jetstorm said as we walked through.

On the other side, Sari was waiting for us with her key, and she held it near Jetfire. Thankfully, it began to glow and the panel on Jetfire's chest slid open. Sari's key turned into a 'V' shape and she placed it in the corresponding slot in Jetfire's chest. The typical bright light flashed, and Jetfire was healed instantly. His chest panel closed, and I laid him on the couch in the base. The gouge across his face was gone, as well as the one across his chest and the wound in his stomach.

Jetfire was out like a light, but his relief was apparent on Jetstorm's frame. Jetstorm was immediately relaxed, crossing to the couch where his twin was resting.

"If no one is minding, I would like to power off as well." Jetstorm said politely. Sari grinned.

"Be our guest." she said. Jetstorm nodded his thanks, lying on his side and facing opposite his brother. His optics powered off and he went into stasis quickly. Blurr on the other hand, saluted us and sped out the door.

"That's weird; he didn't even tell us where he was going..." I said, looking after him. Bumblebee was acting up too; he made some excuse and left, though I noticed he had grabbed something from his room...

...

I had powered off for the night, but I startled awake sometime later when someone was shaking my shoulder. My optics flashed on and I sat up to see Sari.

"What are you doing?" I whispered, glancing over at the clock. "It's two in the morning!" I said. She pulled me up from the bed, dragging me out the door.

"Come on! But don't wake anyone up." Sari said, tiptoeing through the living room. I simply shifted to a silent walk and followed her past the couch. The jet twins were still passed out, I couldn't blame them. Torture is not a fun thing... I was pulled by Sari out the door and she activated her jet pack; I did the same and followed her.

The city was fairly quiet as we flew over it, streetlights were on full power to light the sidewalks and roads below, but otherwise it was dark.

"Where are we going?" I asked, knowing I was going to be awake for a while since I was up and doing something.

"It's a surprise." Sari said. She led me to the dried up water chute just on the outskirts of town, and I landed on the edge, looking down. The chute ran in a twisting loop all the way around the city, and street racers had broken away a section so it became a complete circle. Sari was excited, I could tell that, and she was looking expectantly into the distance.

Headlights started to appear, and various muscle and sports cars idled up to a white line that was painted on the ground. I almost didn't believe who I saw pull up. A sleek, low to the ground, light blue car whipped in to the line. My jaw dropped and I looked at Sari.

"Is that Blurr?" I asked. Sari nodded happily, though she seemed to be looking for someone still. I was surprised again when a familiar, compact, black and yellow car pulled up. I saw then that he was equipped with his rockets. I facepalmed myself.

"And Bumblebee?" I continued. Sari laughed.

"Yep. Ooh, look, the race is about to start. Good thing we can watch it from the air." Sari said, pulling me up and activating her jet pack again. I sighed, following as a guy below us waved a green flag and the racers took off. I followed Sari, watching the race.

Once Blurr got free of traffic, he pulled easily into the lead, Bumblebee on his tail. Bumblebee activated his rockets, shooting past Blurr. Blurr sped up, pulling even with Bee and staying door-to-door with him. The two quickly pulled away from the competition, and it became clear it was to be a showdown between Blurr and Bumblebee all along. They both were a blur as they rounded the final turn in the water pipe, and Sari dropped down to the flag man, asking if she could wave the checkered one. He complied, handing it to her, and she stood on the embankment level with the finish line. I landed as well, and looked down the water chute to see two sets of headlights round the turn.

I found myself actually urging Blurr to win, and he easily beat Bee. A few hundred feet from the finish line, he revealed his true speed and left Bumblebee in the dust. Sari waved the flag cheeringly as he crossed the finish line, though he didn't stop. He slowed a bit, pulling up the embankment and driving a ways. Bumblebee followed, as well as Sari and myself. Blurr and Bee transformed, and Blurr had a triumphant smirk on his face.

"Sayit." Blurr said, pointing a finger at Bee.

"Say what, Zippy?" Bee said, crossing his arms.

"MynameisnotZippy! Admitthatyouwillneverbefasterthanme!" Blurr said. Bee groaned, dropping his arms and looking at the ground, grumbling.

"I suppose... I'm not quite as fast as you." Bee mumbled. Blurr leaned closer, putting a hand to the side of his head.

"Whatwasthat? Icouldn'tquitehearyou." Blurr said. Bumblebee groaned.

"Alright, I'll always have to settle for being the second-fastest thing on wheels as long as you're around." Bee said. This sent Sari and I into a laughing fit, and Blurr chuckled as well. Bumblebee rolled his optics and transformed, heading back to base with Sari close behind.

I looked over at Blurr, getting his attention. He turned to me, but his headlights were still on and flashed in my face, nearly blinding me for a moment. I put a hand in front of my face, shielding my visor.

"For one, turn off your headlights." I said, and Blurr complied, switching to the dimmer lights on his lower legs.

"That's better." I said. "I didn't know such a strict, order-following bot like you had a rebellious streak. I mean come on, street racing? You know it's technically illegal, right?" I asked. Blurr rubbed the back of his neck, motioning me to follow as he actually _walked_ back to the base.

"Yes,Iamfamiliarwiththelaws. UsingmyspeedwheneverIcanisoneofmyfew weaknesses...PleasedonotinformSentineloranybotelse ofthis,Icouldlosemycredibility." Blurr said. I nodded.

"Your secret's safe with me, though I do have something to say. Nice job showing up Bumblebee like that." I said, earning a laugh from Blurr.

...

~Breezeway's POV

Megatron is such a jerk. I hated him, though I did love being a Decepticon. He acted all high and mighty, but he was SO demanding! It was his way or the highway, er, well, you know what I mean. I sighed as he rang for me, mentally crossing my fingers that it wouldn't be to fill out more fragging reports.

I took a breath, walking into the main room and standing at attention as he addressed me.

"Yes, Lord Megatron?" I asked, looking straight ahead.

"I'm assigning you to a solo mission, Rodimus Prime and one of his officers are on the far edge of the galaxy. You can take whichever ship you'd like; I trust you know how to operate it. Consider this your opportunity to redeem yourself, Breezeway. Should you fail me again, you will wish you'd never become a Decepticon." Megatron said. I dipped my head.

"Yes, my liege." I said, hurrying off to the ship hangar. I took a small ship, no need to take a larger one since it was only myself that was going. I quickly did a pre-flight check, activating the rockets and lifting out of the hangar; I turned and warped into the sky.

...

I stalled the ship and let it drift before exiting it. Since I was entirely mechanical now, the lack of pressure (and air) didn't affect me. I transformed and flew, scanning the area for my targets. I spotted a smaller Elite Guard ship that was anchored on an asteroid and silenced my engines, transforming and glancing around. I spotted who I was looking for, a slight smirk over my face. The element of surprise was on my side, and I turned, angling downward and aiming for the Autobot I knew was Rodimus Prime.

I activated my boosters, launching towards him and plowing into him squarely. He hit the ground, off-balance, and I blasted him once before a massive blow hit me and knocked me a fair distance away. I skidded on my aft before rolling a few feet, but got up quickly. Rodimus Prime's officer, I believe his name was Ironhide, had smashed me with his solid fist. I saw he had a proper designation, because his entire frame quickly shimmered and turned into a solid gray color.

I blasted him, my shots mostly bouncing off of him but after a few repeated hits his armor started to crack. I advanced, blasting away. Two stabbing pains struck me just as I realized that Rodimus had gone out of my line of sight. I whirled to see him reloading his bow, and glanced down to see arrows protruding from my shoulder and hip. It hurt, but wasn't really damaging. I blasted Ironhide, hard, and he stumbled back a moment as I turned to Rodimus with a sneer.

"Work on your aim...in the Pit!" I said before shooting him directly in the chest, he was blown backwards, but wasn't offline...yet. I walked up to him, and though I was only about half his size, I saw a flash of something in his optics that surprisingly was amusing to me. He was scared.

I stood over him, reloading, and pointed one of my blasters straight at his head. His grip tightened on the bow that was still in his hand, but I stepped on his arm and took aim. I heard Ironhide scream out a "No!" right as I fired.

Rodimus' optics flashed off immediately, and his grip loosened around his weapon. Ironhide's armor shimmered before going back to its original orange color. He shoved past me, kneeling by his dead commander. I sighed, pretending to be annoyed. Walking up, I put my blaster to the back of Ironhide's head.

"Any last words, Autobot?" I asked. Ironhide was silent before putting a shaking hand to his commlink. I was about ready to blast him then and there, but he held up a finger in a 'just a second' gesture. I powered up my weapons as he spoke.

"This is Ironhide, I need an undertaker crew to my coordinates...thank you." Ironhide said before disconnecting his commlink for the last time. I fired once, and he fell forward next to Rodimus. I disarmed my weapons, considering transforming to get back to my ship, but deciding against it since I still had arrows lodged in my shoulder and hip. I tried to pull the one out of my shoulder, but it was stuck fast and hurt. I didn't think I'd go see Shockwave, no reason to go to the med-bay for something trivial, but someone besides me was going to have to yank out the arrows.

I took off, making my way back to my ship and entering it. I programmed the coordinates home, and pulled the lever for warp drive.

...

I landed the ship back in the base, exiting somewhat carefully. I tried again to tug out the arrows lodged in my armor, but gave up as I went through the main room. I looked up as Megatron called me, and stood at attention.

"Yes sir?" I asked. Megatron approached me, standing directly in front of me.

"Well done. Though next time..." Megatron said, reaching for me before I could react. He took the arrow in my shoulder, ripping it out unceremoniously as I tried not to flinch. "Pay better attention." he finished, walking away. I rubbed my shoulder, grumbling, before heading back to my quarters. I sighed at the stack of data pads stacked outside my door, more reports to be filled out. I gathered them, ignoring the stupid arrow stuck in my hip, and pressed the button that opened my door.

Walking in, I dumped the data pads on my bunk and picked one up, activating it and using its touch screen to go back to my work. I had completed about four when there was a knock at my door. I sighed, wondering who would be bothering me, and called them in. Surprisingly, Blitzwing was standing in the hall, thankfully with his icy persona. He stepped in, though he left the door open, and he stood in front of me somewhat awkwardly.

"I uh, heard ju accomplished jour mission. I vanted to congratulate ju, especially because vone of dem vas a Prime." Blitzwing said. He happened to glance down, and noticed the data pad in my hand.

"Vhat are ju doing?" he asked. I looked at him before going back to filling out the report.

"Filing. That seems to be the only thing I've been doing around here is paperwork..." I said. I saved my work and shut the data pad off, setting it on my bunk in the pile of unfinished ones. "Do you need something?" I asked. Blitzwing shook his head, but he saw the arrow still wedged in my hip.

"Are ju alright?" Blitzwing asked. I nodded.

"Megatron not so kindly ripped the other one out of my shoulder." I said. Blitzwing's persona spun to hothead and started ranting.

"Zat bucket of bolts! Vhy I should..." Blitzwing was saying before I cut him off.

"It's fine. Actually, I was going to ask someone to get this thing out of me, it might as well be you since you're here." I said. Blitzwing changed to random briefly, who took the arrow in one of his hands.

"Vhatever ju vant!" he cackled and jerked it out. I winced, but thanked him.

"Thanks Blitzy, you crazy rust bucket." I said. Blitzwing laughed again, but switched back to icy.

"Ju know, if anyvone else called me zat I'd blast dem. I'll see ju later." Blitzwing said, turning and walking out my door and shutting it. I smiled to myself, picking up the report I'd been working on, I went back to work.

…

**Hey all, sorry for the long delay in this, but the re-formatting of this story should go on fairly normally now!**


	15. Chapter 15

~Hayli's POV

I kept my mouth shut about Blurr's little jaunt, and he did his part for the base by running regular scout missions. The Jet twins were also inclined to stick around (mostly because of me.) Jetfire was fine the next day, and both were begging me to go for a fly. I grabbed my jet pack and went, though they were insistent on following me and keeping me in their sights.

"We are wanting to be making sure you are okay, yes?" Jetstorm said. I glanced behind me, a slight smile on my face.

"As I recall, wasn't it just yesterday that I was the one who saved your afts?" I said. The brothers glanced at each other before shooting ahead of me.

"Hayli is being right, we are complete idiots!" Jetfire said. Jetstorm purposefully ran into his brother, laughing.

"What are you meaning by 'we,' brother?" Jetstorm said. I rolled my good optic from behind my visor and got their attention.

"We've probably been out long enough, we should be heading back." I said.

"Brother, I will race you, yes?" Jetfire said. Jetstorm transformed and rocketed off in answer. Jetfire did the same, and I heard him complain as he sped away.

"No fair! You are a cheater!" Jetfire called after his twin that was far ahead. I chuckled to myself, taking my time in getting back to the plant. I flew over the base, dropping through the hole in the ceiling and landing silently in Prowl's tree. He was meditating; surprisingly he hadn't heard me yet. I smirked, stepping carefully and alert not to slip or even brush a leaf. Once I was almost over him, I gathered myself and dropped from the tree, scaring the crap out of him when I landed directly in front of him.

"Hayli?! You almost gave me a Spark attack. You are getting really good at that." Prowl said, getting to his feet. I laughed.

"Is the big bad ninja bot losing his touch?" I jeered. Prowl nudged me good-naturedly.

"Of course not. How could you even think of such a ridiculous notion?" Prowl said sarcastically.

"Um, maybe it has something to do with the fact you're like a few million years old?" I retorted. Prowl pretended to look offended.

"I am not! For your information I'm far less than a million stellar cycles old." Prowl said. I grinned.

"How much less?" I asked.

"That's none of your business! I didn't ask how old you were." Prowl said. I put a hand on my hip.

"I'm nineteen now. I have been with you guys for a few years now, you know that right?" I asked. Prowl sighed and facepalmed.

"You won't get my exact age, but I'm about as old as Jazz. Optimus is far older than me and as for Ratchet..." Prowl trailed off and I laughed. I actually had a surprise for him, I'd been working on a new floor routine and had found a CD to set the movement to. I grabbed it from Sari's room, borrowed Bee's CD player, and motioned Prowl to the training room.

I moved everything I could out of the way, even dragging my uneven bars further back. I put in the song disc, set it to track 5, and took up my starting pose as the music began. Prowl watched silently as slow, pretty piano music filtered into the room. My new routine was focused more on flexibility and grace than dynamic movement. I bent backwards, planting my hands on the floor and pulling up my legs to be in a handstand. I raised one hand, bringing a foot over my head and putting it on the floor before standing.

I stood on one leg, stretching and pulling the other up so it was parallel with my back. I rocked up onto my toes before twirling and doing a standing front flip. I continued with my routine until the track played out, and I had struck my ending pose right as the music stopped. I turned to Prowl, who was leaning against the doorway.

"Impressive, and graceful at that." Prowl said. I smiled.

"Thanks. Honestly, that would be much easier if I were human. Metal doesn't bend like I used to, you know?" I said. Prowl crossed the room to me, a hint of a smile on his face.

"Yes, I know. That makes you all the more unique." Prowl said. I elbowed him and walked to the door.

"Quit flirting you big softie." I said, joking. "I'm going to meditate, you can come with me or do whatever." I said over my shoulder. Prowl shrugged.

"I need to get out for a little while, you can use my room if you want." Prowl said. I nodded, about to step out the door when Blurr zipped by, laughing and holding something. Bee was running far behind him, saying some curses in Cybertronian that I'm glad Sari couldn't understand.

"Blurr! Get back here and give me my rockets back!" Bumblebee called, running by me. I shook my head, sometimes those two acted like they were a couple of kids, well, Bumblebee was, but oh well. I went down the hall to Prowl's room, dropping into a cross-legged position in front of his tree and powering off my good optic as I cleared my mind.

I swear it wasn't a half hour later when I was disturbed. Bumblebee was trying to sneak up on me, but I could hear him halfway down the hall. Sighing inwardly, I smiled to myself and rested a hand on the hilt of my sword. I let him get just inside the door before I unsheathed my sword and threw it without looking. I stuck it in the wall about half an inch from Bee's head and he drew back quickly.

"Whoa! Hayli, how did you know I was coming? And how did you stick that in the wall without looking?" Bee said. I kept my focus, not wanting to break off my meditation.

"First of all, if you were trying to sneak up on me, it sounded more like you were stomping. Second, I'm meditating, would you mind leaving me alone?" I said without turning around.

"Do you want your sword back?" Bee said. I shook my head.

"I've got it." I said, reaching out with my processor over matter and getting a hold on my sword. I worked it out of the wall and pulled it back over to me, letting it drop and catching it with one hand before replacing it on my hip.

"Okay... That's really creepy when you and Prowl do that." Bee said, backing out.

"Get used to it, and by the way, next time I won't miss on purpose." I said. Bee called as he was leaving.

"That's okay; I've gotten quite a few ninja stars to the head, what's one sword to a shuriken?" Bee said good-naturedly. I sighed, shaking my head. I was also having a hard time focusing because of my visor. Even if my optic was off, my visor still sent visual images to my processor. I reached up and pulled my visor off, setting it next to me. The signal was disconnected, and the left side of my vision went dark, the side that I was minus an optic. Happier now, I powered off my good optic and was able to meditate.

A few hours later, I was interrupted again, but I was about to get up anyway. The Jet twins didn't even try to be quiet, simply running into Prowl's room and trying to get my attention. I powered on my good optic and picked up my visor, standing. My joints creaked, but I was used to it and turned to the twins. They seemed a bit upset when they saw me without my visor.

"Hayli...are you being alright?" Jetstorm said. Jetfire couldn't seem to take his gaze from my face either and I gave them a reassuring smile.

"I'm fine. I lost my optic a while ago, remember? It doesn't even hurt." I said. The twins looked a bit better, but still somewhat off.

"Yes, but it is looking like it was bad." Jetfire said. I reached up half-consciously and felt the jagged scars running over my optic and down my face.

"Well, yeah, it was bad when it happened. I almost went offline, but I'm okay now, alright?" I said, stepping forward and nudging both of them.

"You should put on your visor, it will be helping you see, yes?" Jetstorm said. I replaced my visor, the signal reconnecting and the empty half off my vision filling in. I gave them both a noogie and shoved them out the door.

"Come on, let's find something productive to do." I said. I walked to the central room with them, Sari and Bumblebee were playing a game, and the twins perked up. They ran over to them, and I facepalmed myself.

"I thought I said to do something productive!" I said. Shaking my head I went over to the large scanner where Optimus was standing.

"Anything on there, big guy?" I asked. Optimus shook his head.

"Thankfully not at the moment, but I am a bit worried. I've been informed that there's a riot going on at the prison, most of the city's worst villains are being kept there. I just have to hope that if they do break out we can get them contained before they cause damage to Detroit or any of its citizens." Optimus said. Right as he said that, the police scanner in the base crackled to life, alerting that there'd been a prison break and to be on guard.

"I'll go check it out." I said, activating my jet pack. Optimus nodded.

"I'll come with you, we'll take Blurr, Prowl, and the twins too, maybe if we split up we can catch them all." Optimus said, turning to the ones he'd mentioned.

"Autobots, transform and roll out!" he called. All but me transformed, and the twins and I flew out rather than drove. Immediately I spotted a green-clad individual swing by like Spiderman and stand on top of a light post.

"What ho? You knaves shalt never recapture I, Angry Archer!" he said, shooting what looked like a weighted arrow and wrapping it around another light post before swinging off.

"I've got him, find the others." Optimus said, turning off and following Angry Archer. I saw an orange blur far ahead and dispatched our own Blurr.

"That looks like your guy ahead, have fun!" I called down. Blurr gave me a confirmation and took off in his car mode. I called down to Prowl.

"You've seen these guys before, who's the fast one?" I asked.

"He calls himself Nanosec, we should hurry and find the others, I believe there are three." Prowl said back to me. I circled with the twins behind me, searching. Spotting another one on top of a building, a female, I sent Prowl after her. I couldn't think of her name, but I knew she had the power to slow down time. Prowl would probably be able to resist it with processor-over-matter, so I didn't worry about him...much.

I was searching for the other two when a little girl with curly blond hair and wearing a mask rose up in front of us... on a stuffed unicorn? I almost laughed, there was no way that this six year old was going to hurt us... I was mistaken greatly.

"You bad robots are always getting in Professor Princess', way! Get 'em Powdered Sugar!" she said with a really high pitched voice. At this, the unicorn's horn powered up and shot straight at the twins and I. We scattered, regrouping quickly and the twins transformed, hovering close to me. I turned, ducking another shot that I sensed behind me.

"You guys take the brat; I'll try to find the last one." I said. The little girl complained indignantly, but I took off, leaving the twins to their fight. I smirked a bit when I saw Jetfire winding back with a fireball...

Sweeping the city, doubling back multiple times, I finally found the last bad guy in a dead-end alley. Dropping down, I blocked his escape. He was wearing a white jumpsuit, but his body looked like it was made entirely of toxic waste or something. Either way, I was already on my guard. When he spoke, it sounded like he was talking with his mouth half full of water.

"A visitor? Well, I hate guests. Get out of my way." he said. I shook my head, drawing my sword.

"Foolish girl. That will do no good against me. I am Meltdown, and you soon will see why!" Meltdown said. I was curious, but wary, and weaved right as he shot a stream of something right at my chest. Glancing back, I saw it was eating into the ground where it had landed.

"Let me guess, you're made entirely of some sort of acid." I said, sheathing my sword and standing readily. My sword at least wouldn't do me any good, the acid would eat right through it and then I'd be minus a weapon.

"Oh, we have a genius on our hands, don't we?" Meltdown scoffed. I shot back a retort.

"Why don't you just come quietly, you know I'm going to kick your butt anyway." I said. Meltdown laughed eerily, and I backed half a step. He blasted me again and again, and I dodged as frantically as I could to avoid getting hit. I had to watch where I stepped as well; the acid patches on the pavement were just as lethal as the substance that was repeatedly being sprayed at me. I ducked again, missing being hit directly but the acid landed on one of the wings to my jet pack, eating through it and corroding the area around it.

"Hey! I needed that!" I said indignantly, ducking another spray.

"Hold still so I can terminate you!" Meltdown replied. Though I was dodging his blasts, stray drops were landing in various places and burning me. I ignored it the best I could, equipping my blasters and firing a shot straight through him. He didn't even try to move, my shot blasted a hole right through him, but he strangely started laughing. As I watched, the hole filled in and he had healed himself. I, in my shock, didn't move fast enough and a stream of acid splashed slightly on my lower leg. I ignored the pain, but couldn't fight off the flashback of when I was being tortured. I saw flashes of Black Arachnia slowly burning my legs as well as the rest of my body, and I shook out of it in time to dodge another stream from Meltdown.

I knew I wouldn't be able to beat him on my own, so I called for backup.

"If anyone is available, I could use some help with Meltdown!" I said through my commlink. Blurr and the twins had switched their frequencies to hear Optimus and the team rather than Sentinel, so I knew they could hear me. Prowl's voice answered me.

"I've apprehended my target, I'm coming to help you Hayli. Unfortunately, everyone else is tied up at the moment." Prowl said. I disconnected my commlink, jumping off the wall and pulling my injured leg aside to avoid stepping in a puddle. I was completely surrounded by the potent acid, and couldn't dodge when Meltdown blasted again. Instead, I went up and backwards, leaping high and doing a back flip. I landed on my hands, but painfully, because one of my hands landed in the puddle that Meltdown had just created. Snapping my hand up instinctively, I spun around and stood. Meltdown looked somewhat impressed.

"Nice trick, you're a more difficult opponent then some I've met. You wouldn't happen to be a friend of that black and gold Autobot would you?" Meltdown said.

"Actually, I am." I said. Right on queue, Prowl sped up and transformed, taking in the situation. He noticed my leg and jet pack, as well as the small spots I'd been burned.

"I'm okay, but we need to get this wacko back in the stony lonesome." I said. Prowl nodded, giving me a silent signal and leaping onto the rooftops. I knew what he was going to do, so I gave cover fire to seem like I was attacking head on. Meltdown turned to me, about to blast me, but Prowl's hologram, which Meltdown didn't know was a hologram, dropped into the dead end of the alley. Meltdown turned to it, going after him instead, and Prowl dropped in after him, holding a white suit of some sort. Prowl got it around Meltdown, tying him up and leaving him in the alley. He walked towards me, eyeing my jet pack and leg.

"I told you I'm alright; it's just a few burns. Though the bugger did a number on my jet pack... I don't think I can fly right now." I said, trying to activate my jet pack. The undamaged side responded, but I would fly in corkscrews if I tried to even get off the ground. I decided to hitch a ride with Prowl, but before he transformed I saw something and grabbed his wrist, pulling it closer and examining his hand and arm.

"What are you doing?" Prowl said. I saw what I thought I had and turned his hand towards him.

"You got burned too, your hand is messed up and so is your arm." I said. Prowl pulled away from me and transformed.

"Yes, all the more reason to be getting back to base. Blurr caught Nanosec easily and Optimus and the Jet twins apprehended their targets as well. I believe Jetstorm was hit once but he's alright." Prowl said. I hopped on, hitching a ride back to base.

We pulled in, and Sari was there with her key to fix everyone. Thankfully it didn't act up, and it first healed Jetstorm's scuffed shoulder before fixing Prowl's hand and forearm. Sari came up to me last, and I slipped my jet pack off first. I could probably have Ratchet fix it instead of having Professor Sumdac make a new one. She used her key, and the acid burns disappeared from my frame quickly. Something I wondered about though, it didn't fix my optic...

I went inside after the others, and found Ratchet in the lab as usual. I got his attention and held up my jet pack.

"You think you can fix this? I don't really want to have Mr. Sumdac make me a new one." I said. Ratchet leaned down and took it, equipping the scope over his optic and looking at it briefly.

"Sure, kid, whatever you need. It doesn't look like it will take me too long, so don't worry about that." Ratchet said.

"Thanks Ratchet." I replied and left, heading out to the main room. The twins had settled into a game with Sari and Bee while Bulkhead waited his turn, and Blurr was leaning against the wall with his data pad and stylus in hand. I figured he was doing something important, and let him be. Prowl was no where to be found, I assumed he was in his room, and Optimus was supposed to be back any time from wrapping up loose ends from the jailbreak.

I was just taking a step to go find Prowl when my Elite Guard commlink activated. I saw the twins pause the game and Blurr looked up from his data pad as well. I listened for the news, surprised that it was Jazz and not Sentinel's arrogant voice in my ear. Unfortunately, it wasn't good news.

"Remaining Elite Guard officers, those of you who are still alive, I've got some bad news. Rodimus and Ironhide are dead, it looks like the work of a Decepticon assassin, most likely a femme since the footprints found were small. They were both taken out by headshots, Rodimus was shot twice. It's too bad, but we can't have a big ceremony for them, we're spread too thin right now and our commander is still in a coma. I'm not even sure who's still alive, but anyone who can hear this, please respond." Jazz said. The twins and Blurr nodded at me to go first.

"Jazz? It's Hayli, I'm fine. Blurr and the twins are with us too, we're all okay. I also have an assumption to make." I said.

"And what is that?" Jazz asked.

"I think the one that killed Rodimus and Ironhide was Breezeway. She tried to take me out recently, but I kicked her tail. Maybe that was some way to prove herself to Megatron... Out of curiosity, where is Sentinel?" I asked.

"He's okay, he just went to check on Ultra Magnus. Thank Primus you guys are alright." Jazz said. He was silent a moment, then came back on with his tone a bit sobered.

"I think we may be the only ones left, I'm not hearing anyone else. You know, it's gettin' a bit lonely up here by myself, you think Optimus would mind if I dropped by and chilled with you guys a while? To be honest, Sentinel is driving me insane, and I'm not quite sure if he's firing on all cylinders right now." Jazz said. Blurr chuckled along with the twins and I.

"Hang on, I can ask him for you. We could always use another pair of servos, and I think Prowl could use some time with someone he likes besides me." I said. Jazz laughed, and I disconnected him briefly and called Optimus.

"Hey, Optimus?" I asked. His voice replied quickly.

"Hayli? What do you need?" Optimus said.

"Actually, it's not me. You wouldn't mind if Jazz came to base for a while would you?" I asked.

"Of course not, he's welcome anytime. Sentinel's got to be driving him nuts by now." Optimus replied.

"That's what he said. Thanks." I said, patching out. Reconnecting with Jazz, I told him it was fine and that we could open a space bridge for him.

"That's cool, see you in a bit. Oh, Hayli, can't wait to see how your ninja skills have improved. Between you and me, Prowl said you could beat him in a sparring match if he didn't cheat." Jazz said. I laughed.

"Oh did he now? I'll get a bridge open for you, just send your coordinates." I said. Jazz affirmed, and I programmed the coordinates he told me into the space bridge and pulled the lever, opening a portal in the courtyard outside the base. Blurr had gone back to messing with his data pad and the twins left the game paused to go wait for Jazz. I walked down the hall to Prowl's room to tell him Jazz was coming. He wasn't sitting on the floor, and I looked up at his tree to try and find him. Not seeing him right away, I did notice the sky was getting dark, but not for nighttime. I assumed a storm was coming, and hopped up into his tree.

"Prowl? Are you up here? I just wanted to let you know that Jazz is going to be here soon." I said. I didn't see him, but I sensed Prowl was nearby. He confirmed my thought when he spoke up.

"I'll be down in a little while. It appears that a storm is coming, judging from the weather reports it's a bad one." Prowl said. I leapt lightly up to the branch where he was, looking out at the sky. The wind was picking up, starting to make the tree's branches wave and the leaves tear off. The clouds were rolling fast, nearly black, and crashes of thunder weren't far behind the first lightning flash I saw. I put my hand on Prowl's arm, gesturing him down.

"Come on, we should get down. Metal bots standing in a tree equals instant lightning rod." I said. Prowl nodded, showing off a bit and leaping straight from the tree and landing quietly on the floor. I did the same, standing straighter and walking out the door behind him. I was about to exit the plant to wait for Jazz when Ratchet stopped me, handing my jet pack to me. I could tell it was completely repaired, and slipped it on.

"Thanks Ratchet, it's good as new." I said. Going outside, Prowl followed me and I stepped out of the doorway just as Jazz stepped through the portal and it closed behind him. He instantly looked up at the dark sky and stormy conditions.

"Heck of a welcome, this don't look good." Jazz said. As to confirm his statement, a bolt of lightning arced from the clouds and set a building alight a few blocks away. More lightning struck with the same results, and I was surprised that it wasn't raining. A break in the clouds explained why.

…

**Ha ha! Cliffhanger for next chapter!**


	16. Chapter 16

~Hayli's POV

The sky was an eerie greenish color, and the black clouds were starting to rotate faster and faster. A funnel cloud started to form before our eyes and Optimus ran out with the others behind him. He ordered Sari back inside and to stay safe, and sent Bumblebee with her.

"I've been getting reports of fires all over the city, and a tornado is starting to form. We need to split up and help the civilians. Evacuate the burning buildings and get as many as you can to a place safe from the tornado. We don't have much time; Bulkhead, Ratchet, you're with me. Jetfire, Jetstorm, and Blurr, I want you three to go uptown and assist in any way you can. Jazz, Prowl, and Hayli, follow that funnel cloud and get whoever you can into a place that's safe from it." Optimus said. We all nodded our confirmation and took off in our designated directions.

The funnel cloud was lowering closer to the ground, and soon would touch it. It was already tearing the roofs off of some of the taller buildings, and I saw Jazz and Prowl floor it under me. Prowl blared his siren to alert anyone who could hear, and I shouted into any open window to get to a basement. The tornado changed directions then and started straight for us. Of course it would be no use to warn people already affected by it, but we made a quick U-turn and proceeded doing the same thing as the tornado ripped a violent path behind us.

Thankfully, after about twenty minutes, the tornado let up and spun itself out, though the lightning continued for a short while. It finally started raining, hard, but it washed out at least any fires that were on the rooftops. I followed Jazz and Prowl back down the tornado's path, and helped wherever I could. Many hadn't been able to make it down to the lower levels fast enough, and I tried to ignore the dead that were in various positions on the levels of the buildings. The tornado had gone right down a major street, tearing the walls of the adjacent buildings off and exploding virtually all of the windows.

Anyone who had survived I gladly shuttled down to the ground, some were miraculously unhurt but a few called to me and weren't able to make it to me themselves. I had just helped an injured woman down, she had a knock to the head and a few glass cuts but she would be alright, and saw Prowl and Jazz doing the same thing in the lower levels of the buildings. Prowl could reach higher because of his boosters, and I went on to the highest levels again to rescue more people, though I stopped briefly to call Optimus.

"Hey big guy, I know you're busy, but we need a few medics down here, the tornado went right through this street and we're occupied with rescuing the survivors right now." I said.

"I copy, Hayli. Consider it done." Optimus said and disconnected. I landed in a floor of a building and looked around. It had once been an apartment, though I still had to duck a bit since I was way taller than a normal human. I looked through the apartment, about to move on, but I heard something. I judged it to be a little kid, and was right in my assumption. I found him in a small bathroom that seemed to have been a little too close to the outside wall. He couldn't have been more than seven, and he didn't even look up at me when I came up on him. He was occupied.

"Mommy? Daddy?" the little boy said, shaking who must have been his mom with his tiny hand. I couldn't tell if they were alive, and the scene really tugged at my Spark. His parents must have used their own bodies to protect him during the tornado, I moved closer and saw the mom was gone, she had a shard of ceramic wedged in her back and she'd gotten hit in the head with something.

The little boy saw me then, instantly leaping out of the bathtub where he'd been and hugging my leg. He must have been old enough to understand what death was, because he burst out crying and buried his face in my armor. I'd always had a soft spot for little kids, and I picked him up, holding him comfortingly as he cried and sobbed broken speech into my chest plate.

"My mum...and dad...are...dead... The tornado...got them... I want...them...back...!" he choked.

"Shhh. It's okay. You're alright, that's all they wanted. I'm going to help you, okay?" I said soothingly.

"O...kay." He had surprisingly clear speech for being so little, and I let him cry as I walked into the bathroom. He buried his face harder into me, not wanting to look at his parents and I confirmed they were both dead. The dad actually didn't look bad, but I made a guess and ran my hand down his back. It was broken in multiple places, and I stepped back.

"Do you want to say goodbye?" I asked. The little boy shook his head, and I walked back to the edge of the level of the building. "Don't look down, okay?" I said before stepping off the ledge and using my jet pack to soften the landing. I moved over to the sidewalk where we'd been lining up civilians and was going to set him down, but he didn't want to let me go.

I sat on the curb with him in my lap as he cried himself out, and Prowl walked up to me, a level expression as always was on his face.

"We need to be checking the buildings...what happened with him?" Prowl said. I gave him a 'cut me some slack' look.

"His parents died because they shielded him with their own bodies. He's all alone. Show some compassion, I know you have it in you." I said, doing my best to keep the kid out of the rain. Prowl sighed quietly, he didn't usually show his softer side to anyone except me, but I knew he had a soft spot for little kids too. He knelt by me, gently getting the young boy's attention.

"Don't worry...what is your name?" Prowl said in the tone he rarely used except for when he was dealing with the Dinobots.

"I'm Tyler." the kid said. Prowl nodded.

"My name is Prowl, and the one who found you is Hayli. Tyler, we're going to find some people that are going to take good care of you." Prowl said. I could tell he was traumatized, and us talking to him was probably helping a bit. Tyler sat up slightly, pulling his face from my armor. It was still raining, though now it wasn't a downpour. He looked up at me, then back to Prowl, wiping his eyes. He seemed to get a thought and spit it out.

"Are you two married?" Tyler said. I glanced at Prowl and almost busted up laughing, and his expression was priceless. He got up quickly.

"I'm uh, going to find someone that can deal with him." Prowl said before walking quickly away. I chuckled a bit and Tyler seemed to relax a little. He looked up at me, asking something else.

"Will you be my new mommy?" he said. I felt terrible that I couldn't, it was one of those 'aw that's so cute' moments and gently told him I couldn't.

"I wish I could sweetie, but I wouldn't be able to take care of you right now. We Autobots are very busy." I said. He looked a little disappointed, but now that I had him talking he seemed to want to go on.

"I want to be an Autobot!" he said. I laughed, tousling his hair.

"Believe me; it's not as fun as you think. I've almost died quite a few times. In fact, I did die once." I said. Tyler caught this instantly.

"Are you like a zombie?" he asked. I shook my head with a smile.

"No, I was brought back to life by someone." I said. He thought for a moment, and then surprisingly, correctly guessed.

"Was it Prowl?" he asked. I nodded and he clapped happily.

"I knew it!" Tyler said. He noticed for the first time the scars on my face that ran under my visor and stated what I knew he would ask eventually.

"What happened to your face?" he asked. I unconsciously reached up and felt the scars before looking back at him.

"It's a long story. I lost my eye because a bad person slashed me, that's why I wear this visor." I said.

"Oh, so you can see, right?" Tyler said. I nodded. He was quiet for a moment when he saw Prowl returning with a lady behind him. He looked back at me and said one more thing with that inarguable little-kid logic.

"Even if you can't be my mommy, you would be a good mommy for someone else." Tyler said. I smiled to myself, almost sad I had to give this kid up. I got up, and Tyler clung to my leg as the woman reached for him, explaining briefly as she did.

"I'm with the Child Protection agency. Thank you for saving him, we'll make sure he's well taken care of and gets the proper treatment." the lady said. I nodded, slowly peeling him off of me and nudging him towards the woman. He seemed a bit reluctant, and turned around briefly before holding out his arms in a gesture that I took to mean he wanted a hug. I knelt down, and he ran back to me, wrapping his arms around me as best he could.

"Bye bye, maybe I can see you on the news sometimes." Tyler said. I patted his back gently, and he disengaged himself from me before going back to the woman and starting to leave with her. Prowl had already taken off, and I was about to as well, but something caught my attention.

I swore I heard something make a sort of crunch over the rain and I looked around, scanning quickly for the source. I identified it quickly, it was the top of a building, about the last three floors to the roof were leaning precariously over the street, and now the supports were starting to give. I traced the path of where it would fall, and saw that the social worker and Tyler were almost right under it, along with a few other injured survivors that weren't able to move much. The supports snapped right as my instincts kicked in and I used my jet pack to reach them right before the levels fell. Even if I could save Tyler and the woman by simply shielding them, the debris from the falling building would probably fly aside and injure the survivors further.

I focused intently and quickly, in the short window of time I had. Shutting everything out, I dimly heard the social worker scream when she saw what she thought was her doom.

...

~Prowl's POV

I turned from the civilian I had just deposited on the sidewalk when I heard a female scream sharply. I only had time to see a large part of a building detach and fall before I saw that Hayli was standing in its path, shielding the little boy from earlier. I thought, 'Primus, she's dead for sure,' but she stunned myself as well as Jazz, who had seen what was going on the same time I did.

The large chunk of the building became illuminated in a bluish glow as it abruptly stopped falling, and I realized she had used processor over matter to stop it. I could tell she was concentrating hard, and one of her hands was held up with the other, two fingers pressed together in a focusing technique I'd shown her. Jazz came up next to me, whistling a low note.

"Dang, that girl's got skill." Jazz said. Hayli was focusing deeply, but without looking up she called our way.

"Don't just stand there, I can't hold this thing all day!" she said. Jazz and I rushed forward, getting the civilians out of harm's way. Hayli got out of the way as well, slowly lowering the massive piece of debris to the pavement instead of simply dropping it. The blue glow disappeared from around it and Hayli seemed to lose her balance as she stepped back, she tripped and fell to her knees. Impulsively I rushed to her, and she put a hand to her head.

"Geez, I've got a splitting processor ache." Hayli said. Relieved she was alright, I helped her up.

"I'm sure you do." I replied. I was actually a bit stunned, I didn't even know if I'd be able to hold something that big after I'd been meditating for a while, let alone with half a second of notice. Honestly, I'd never seen her practicing with anything other than her sword, which wouldn't be difficult. The small boy from earlier broke away from the social worker I'd found and wedged past me, standing in front of Hayli.

….

**Sorry for the bit of awkward chapter break, but POV switches back to Hayli in the next chapter so this seemed like a good place to stop.**


	17. Chapter 17

~Hayli's POV

I saw Tyler run up in front of me and knelt down, a hand still pressed to my head. His eyes were wide and he had a gigantic smile on his face.

"You saved me again! That was cool!" Tyler said, noticing my expression and the hand pressed to my forehead. "Did you get hurt?" he asked. I shook my head.

"I'm okay, I've just got a headache. And now that you mention it, a bit dizzy..." I said. Tyler gave me one last hug, looking up at me with his sweet, huge eyes.

"Are you sure you can't be my mommy? I feel safe with you." he said. My Spark almost melted, this kid was so cute, and I almost couldn't say no. Prowl caught my attention, and I sighed.

"I'm really sorry Tyler, I just can't. Don't worry, you're going to get a brand new mom and dad that are going to love you and keep you safe just like your real parents." I said. Tyler took a step back towards the social worker before calling over his shoulder for one last time.

"I still think you'd be a good mom for someone!" Tyler said. Prowl gently led me away, and he looked down at me, making sure I wasn't hurt. He noticed I was thinking about something else as well. He lifted my chin, looking into my visor and analyzing my expression. He almost telepathically assumed what I was thinking and he dropped my chin.

"Don't even think about it. You know we can't adopt him, Sari would be one child too many if she wasn't able to hold her own." Prowl said. I dropped my gaze to the pavement, where rain was still pooling on the blacktop. I half-consciously heard it pinging off mine and Prowl's armor as well.

"I wasn't thinking about Tyler... I...never mind, forget about it." I said. Prowl glanced around, making sure there was no one close, and spoke in his softer tone.

"What is it?" Prowl asked. I looked back up at him.

"I kind of want one of my own. Not exactly right now, but sometime. I..." I trailed off, not sure of what to say since I just dropped a bomb. Prowl was quiet a while, then spoke.

"We could...possibly look into it..." Prowl answered me. I brightened, hugging him and ignoring the WTH look I got from Jazz. Jazz walked over, ignoring the display, and motioned us to follow him.

"Come on bros, Optimus wants us to get back to base. He says the humans can take it from here. By the way, Hayli, nice catch." Jazz said. I dipped my head in thanks, activating my jet pack and following them through the rain back to the plant. I landed in the courtyard behind Jazz and Prowl, though I still had an unbearable headache. I could liken it to someone smashing my head into a spiked wall repeatedly.

Everyone else was already there, thankfully uninjured, Optimus only had a few scorch marks where he must have gotten too close when putting out fires. Jetstorm tilted his head, noting my expression, and nudged his twin.

"Hayli, are you okay?" Jetstorm said. I nodded, putting a hand to my head.

"Just a little processor ache, that's all." I said. Jazz spoke up.

"Girl, I'm sure it's more than a little." Jazz said, turning to the twins and explaining for me.

"She used P over M to stop about the top four floors of a building from flattening some survivors. I have no idea how she managed it..." Jazz said. I looked at everyone modestly when they turned around.

"I don't know how I did it either. If no one minds though, I'm going to power off for a while, my head hurts." I said. They stepped aside, clearing a path to the door. I walked in gratefully, making a beeline for Prowl's room. Actually, since we'd been "together" I'd moved to bunking in his room and letting Sari have hers all to herself.

I stepped in the door; his room was a disaster, as it always was after a storm. His tree blocked most of the rain and wind, but still didn't prevent the entire room from getting soaked. It had stopped raining by now, but the leaves of his tree still dripped water steadily. Leaping up into it, I chose a branch and made myself comfortable. Usually I didn't sleep much anymore, I didn't need it, but I felt like a good long nap. I took off my visor so it wouldn't sent constant visual readings to my processor, powered off my optic, and drifted into stasis where I could sleep off my headache.

~Prowl's POV

I was still marveling at how much Hayli's processor over matter skills had grown, though even if it still gave her a headache. I remembered a time a long while ago when I'd kept a slab of concrete from killing Lockdown and Ramjet, as well as myself. That wasn't even a fraction of what Hayli had done, and I clearly remembered the processor ache that it had given me, I didn't blame her for wanting to lie down.

I walked silently into my room, quickly locating her in my tree. She hadn't bothered to hide herself, which confirmed even more how much she must not have felt good. Silently, I jumped into the tree and picked my way to the branch she was stretched out on. Her visor was laid on the branch next to her, close to the trunk, and I could tell she was already deeply in stasis. I folded my legs on a branch, silently meditating while she slept. My mind kept replaying what she'd said to me earlier about wanting children of her own...

Honestly, I had scarcely thought about having descendents. I'd been too busy with the team and focused on my ninja training. It was immensely difficult to describe, but over the years she'd been with us, I'd been drawn to Hayli more and more. I still remember the moment a few years ago when she'd kissed me after we'd both almost died, and whenever I was around her, I could drop my level attitude that I showed to everyone else.

I thought a long time while she slept, going back and forth on the issue. Cybertronians involved a complicated construction process, a femme carries a protoform, and then it is later programmed with attributes from its parents. I knew Hayli wanted this, and how could I turn her down? She had lost everything, her old home, her family... She'd been tortured and nearly killed dozens of times, but she continually was selfless in her actions. I made up my mind and gently shook her awake before I could change it.

Hayli woke quickly, her optics powering on and surprise registering on her face when she realized I was sitting right in front of her.

"Prowl? What is it? I was sleeping." she said somewhat drowsily. She replaced her visor and sat up on her branch.

"I'll tell you in just a second. Does your head still hurt?" I asked. She shook her head.

"No, I guess I just needed a short nap." Hayli said. I looked her in the eye, a small grin on my face.

"How would you like to be a mother?" I asked. Hayli's face broke out in a wide grin and she immediately threw her arms around me, giving me a giant hug and not letting go.

~ Breezeway's POV

Thankfully, I'd been having to do less and less secretary work and more and more things that were fun. Megatron had been gone a lot lately, Primus knows where, and I had managed to convince Starscream to stay aligned with the Decepticons. I could tell he was definitely power-hungry, but sat back quietly and begrudgingly did anything he was told.

We had a blast watching the tornado go through town, though we had to be careful flying around it unless we wanted to get sucked in. Would you believe it? Blitzwing's random persona thought it would be fun and flew right in to the funnel cloud. That rust bucket got shot right out the top of the funnel, but of course he thought it was the funniest thing in the world. None of the rest of us tried it, we weren't that stupid, but I got a chuckle out of seeing Blitzy so dizzy he couldn't fly in a straight line.

It had been about a few weeks after the storm, and Starscream's clones came to stay at the base. Believe me, that got creepy with that many of him around. Slipstream was alright, besides the fact she was so sarcastic. I had desperately missed girl time with anyone, and we talked while the guys were off being dumb and trying to impress us.

Megatron never told us where he was going, and I had sort of a weird feeling, but I didn't think too much on it.

~Hayli's POV

"Hayli? Come on, you go on scout mission with me, yes?" Jetstorm pleaded a few weeks after the big storm. I sighed, getting off the floor where I'd been watching Bee and Blurr playing a racing game. Even in the virtual world, Blurr was stomping Bumblebee.

"Sure." I replied. Jetstorm happily took off, me trailing him, and started a perimeter search around Detroit. He happily babbled on about who knows what, I wasn't really paying attention. In fact, I had felt a bit off for a while, even though I refused to show it or tell anyone. A thought finally occurred to me that made me speed up and cut Jetstorm off.

"Wait a minute, Prowl is out right now running a scout mission... You little stinker, you just wanted to be out with me by yourself, didn't you?" I said with a small grin. Jetstorm looked embarrassed.

"I-yes, you have caught me." Jetstorm said. I chuckled softly and shook my head, putting a hand on his shoulder as we hovered.

"You do know that I'm with Prowl, right?" I said gently. Jetstorm sighed.

"Yes..." he said.

"Okay. I-" I was saying when Prowl's voice cut me off.

"Just an alert, Angry Archer got out of prison again, I'm in pursuit, but I'll alert again if I need an assist." Prowl said. I turned to Jetstorm.

"We should go help." I said. He nodded, and I took off, ducking into the streets and flying low as I scanned for the Robin Hood wanna-be. Jetstorm was fairly close behind me, and soon I saw who we were looking for go swinging right past me. Prowl wasn't far behind, in his vehicle mode, he was chasing Angry Archer. I flipped around, able to keep up more easily because I didn't have to dodge traffic. The villain looked back, shouting at us.

"Begone! I shall make my grand escape!" he said. I rolled my good optic behind my visor, this guy was a loon. He swung around a corner and I followed close behind. I only had time to hear a loud thud before I smashed right into something solid and bounced back. Stunned, I fell to the street, half-registering that Angry Archer was unconscious on the sidewalk. Looking up, I saw what I had run into was another bot, though I'd never seen him before.

"I am Wreck-Gar, I am a hero!" he said happily. It took a moment, but then clicked that I'd heard about this guy. He wasn't quite firing on all cylinders if you know what I mean, and evidently didn't have the common sense to _stay out of the way_. Jetstorm managed to pull up fast enough the same thing didn't happen to him and Prowl came to a stop by me and transformed.

"You okay?" he asked. I nodded, getting to my feet.

"Yeah, Mr. Hero here was in the way." I said. Prowl looked up, and I could tell he had a mental facepalm moment.

"What in Primus' sake are you doing here?" Prowl said.

"I am Wreck-Gar, I have caught the bad guy! Goodbye." he said, transforming into a garbage truck and happily driving off down the sidewalk. I gave Prowl a WTH look and he just sighed.

"The All Spark brought him to life from a pile of trash." Prowl explained.

"That's all I need to know." I said. Jetstorm called down to me urgently, but I didn't understand.

"Hayli, watch out!" he said. I had just started to look around when an arrow struck me in the chest, the end of it twisting and unleashing a net that entangled me instantly. I stumbled and smacked into the pavement again, seeing that Angry Archer was awake again and already swinging off. Prowl was too concerned with me at the moment, so I shouted up to Jetstorm.

"Go take him down, be careful." I said. Jetstorm saluted and took off. Prowl knelt next to me, drawing one of his ninja stars and using a blade to cut me free. I pulled the loose cables off of me, briefly using my sword to slice where they attached to the arrow still impaled in me. It wasn't as high-tech as a Cybertronian weapon, so the head was only buried just past the barb. Prowl helped me up, eyeing the arrow.

"We should get back to base so Ratchet can get that out of your armor. Does it hurt?" Prowl asked. I tugged on it slightly, shaking my head.

"Not really, I don't think it went much past my armor. And what do you mean we? I don't want to leave Jetstorm out here alone." I said. Prowl activated his commlink, shortly requesting for backup.

"Jetfire, I need you in the southern part of the city, your twin is on the chase and he could probably use backup." Prowl said. I heard Jetfire affirm and Prowl disconnected. He transformed, and I activated my jet pack. Prowl drove under me while I flew back to base, and he made certain I went to medi-lab as soon as we got there. Ratchet turned when Prowl and I walked in, not even having to ask what was wrong when he saw the arrow in my chest plate. I explained for myself.

"Angry Archer got the best of me, I just need it out of my armor." I said. Ratchet nodded, gesturing to a table.

"Sure kid, just a second. I'm going to scan you just to make sure it didn't hit anything." Ratchet said. I got on the table, lying flat and holding still as the scanner went from my head to my feet. I sat up, looking over at Ratchet as he went over the scan. He looked like he was about to turn to me, but then did a double-take. Curious, and a bit nervous, I spoke up.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" I asked. Ratchet ignored me, calling Prowl over and pointing at something in the scan. His reaction was not what I was expecting, because he broke out in a rare, full smile and turned to me.

"Why are you smiling?" I asked. Ratchet had more of a look of disbelief, and he turned as well.

"Kid, you're carrying." Ratchet said.

…**.**

**^~^… I have nothing to say… **


End file.
